Episode 3: Network-as-a-Service (NaaS). Faster, Leaner, Greener Networks That Just Work

Future Ready Podcast.

What if your network felt like a utility; always on, right-sized, and someone else’s problem?

In this episode of Future Ready, Niamh Burgess-Smith (Hybrid Infrastructure Leader & Strategist, Bechtle) and Lee Alesbrook (Hybrid Infrastructure BDM) unpack why Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is quietly reshaping IT: from energy-hungry legacy kit and weekend callouts to an on-demand, fully managed network that scales with the business and improves user experience.

Hybrid work didn’t just change offices, it changed the tempo of networking. NaaS lets you spin up secure connectivity in days, not months.

Niamh Burgess-Smith, Head of Infrastructure, Server & Storage

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Why listen?

If you’re juggling mergers, new sites, or hybrid policies while nursing a Windows-7-era network, this conversation shows how NaaS turns networking into a subscription service: hardware, config, updates, monitoring and optimisation, all wrapped in SLAs. It frees your team from firefighting and unlocks measurable wins across uptime, sustainability and employee experience.

In the episode:

From spaghetti to strategy: Why legacy estates burn power “like it’s free,” create dead zones, and drown IT in tickets.
Speed & agility: Open a fourth office? Shift to remote-first? Scale up or down without capex cycles or vendor lock-in.
Security built-in: Enterprise-grade controls and compliance baked into the service. Plus smarter hours-based power policies reduce attack surface.
Sustainability that counts: Smarter silicon, off-hours throttling, lifecycle services (refurbish/recycle), and ESG-ready data.
Human impact: Fewer 2 a.m. callouts, less “mean time to innocence,” and happier users (“Is the internet down again?” becomes rare).

What you’ll take away.

A quick readiness check for NaaS:

Uptime & UX: Do video calls, large file syncs and VPNs just work across peak periods?
Energy & ESG: Can you report networking energy use, and reduce it automatically after hours?
Scale: How fast can you securely bring a new site or pop-up online?
Ops burden: How many tickets are “network-adjacent” and stealing focus from strategic work?
Risk & SLA: Do you have clear uptime guarantees, response times and performance thresholds today?

Anecdotes you’ll remember:

Lee’s “Engineer Chris” story, hours on the M1 to prove the network wasn’t at fault, captures the hidden cost of fragmented ownership. With NaaS, centralised monitoring surfaces issues before users notice, and escalations become faster, calmer and far rarer.

Listen & Subscribe.

Watch Episode 3.

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Release Date: 1st December 2025

How Bechtle helps.

Bechtle designs, delivers and runs NaaS with UK-based engineers and service desk, flexible engagement (co-managed or fully managed), and clear SLAs. From discovery and site surveys to rollout and optimisation, we align the network to your business outcomes, growth, sustainability, compliance and user experience.

Niamh Burgess-Smith

Head of Infrastructure, Server & Storage,
Bechtle

Focus:
NaaS strategy, sustainability reporting, cloud & hybrid architectures.

Connect on LinkedIn

Contact Niamh

Lee Alesbrook

Hybrid Infrastructure Business Development Manager, Bechtle

Focus:
Customer outcomes, managed networking, user experience metrics.

Connect on LinkedIn

Contact Lee

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