NaaS Working Group Update: “What is NaaS? What is Its Value and Potential? What You Need to Know Now”

Fall 2023

Roughly a decade after cloud-based services transformed how large enterprises consume computing and storage, cloudification is hitting the network, driving service providers to reinvent Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and race to deliver services imbued with cloud-like properties, such as: on-demand, consumption-based, scalable, flexible, application-aware, software-driven, open and transparent.

In this second decade of the Cloud Era, how will NaaS adoption enable enterprises to overcome burdensome operational challenges and realize better outcomes for Global 2000 business stakeholders? Leaders in the Network Cloud Working Group will describe how service providers are striving to simplify the delivery of network connectivity bundled with value-added services so that businesses can excel at serving the needs of their customers.

Agenda:
-What is NaaS and what are its cloud-like qualities?
-Leading NaaS delivery models.
-Security and compliance issues.
-NaaS service models and APIs.
-Business stakeholder benefits.

Who Should Attend:
-IT and Network Managers
-Cloud Architects
-Network Engineers and Administrators
-Security Professionals
-CIOs, CTOs, and IT Directors
-Business and Technology Leaders interested in NaaS
-Networking Service Providers and Vendors

Speakers:

Prior to founding MarketWord in 2006, Mark Fishburn held roles as Managing Director, VP marketing, VP sales, VP market development, technical strategy, and business unit manager with Xerox, Retix, Netcom Systems, Spirent. He has been a board member and chairman of several industry associations and frequent speaker at industry conferences worldwide.

Steve Wood is a Distinguished Engineer and Product Architect providing strategic direction for SD-WAN, Cloud, Network-as-a-Service and Enterprise Networking products in Cisco’s Enterprise Network Group. A 20-year veteran of Cisco, his expertise spans ASIC design,  Routing, 3G/4G and Wifi Mobility as well as Cloud and Enterprise Architecture. He is a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies worldwide deploying networks to solve business problems, through deep knowledge of platform technology and network design. He is chair of the ONUG Network Cloud working group.

Robert (Bob) Wysocki is the Client Solutions Leader for IT Networks and Cybersecurity. His
responsibilities include driving innovation, incubating emerging technologies, and enabling
customers to deploy key digital technologies for rapid business and operational transformation.
Bob is a seasoned IT evangelist with over 30 years of industry experience, gained at Fortune 20 as
well as start-up organizations. During his 16 years at General Electric (GE), as an executive in
Corporate Shared Services IT, he drove strong business results in numerous disciplines of
procurement, product management, engineering, operations, and financial management. Bob led
the initial services definition of infrastructure for GE’s Predix Cloud platform and most recently
played a key role in executing GE’s transformation of Edge Networking to enable their cloud-first
strategy. Before GE, he also led technology and engineering leadership roles at Pilot Network
Services and AT&T, architecting solutions with the commercial value of $1 Billion. A recognized
industry leader, Bob most recently co-chaired the ONUG Hybrid Cloud Working Group for which
he received an award at ONUG Fall 2017 for leading the engagement of Cloud Services and
Container Orchestration Providers to embrace enterprise IT requirements of their services.
Bob graduated from Georgia Tech and holds a Masters in Computer Engineering from the
University of Central Florida.

Ken Patel brings over thirty years of experience as an Associate Fellow at Verizon Business Global Solution, guiding sales and product for the deployment of Network as a Service (NaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions. He balances the needs of enterprise customers with the curation of an enriched roadmap of ‘as a service’ solutions with security, AI/ML automation, orchestration, portal and deep insights. These services are provided to Enterprises such as Walgreens, Cintas, JetBlue, Johnson Controls, Xerox, numerous Fed/Gov agencies with a managed end to end digital supply chain with proactive monitoring and digital experience management of users/devices. His expertise revolves around advanced network and security technologies such as NaaS, SASE/SSE, SDN, MPLS/Internet/5G, Private 5G, Multiaccess Edge Computing, PaaS and IaaS, with a focus on migrating global customers from legacy to an automated real time enterprise environment with a multitude of partner technologies.

Zaheer is a distinguished technology leader with over 25 years of experience in networking, security, and cloud. He currently serves as the Services Incubation Lead for SASE and SDWAN at Cisco Customer Experience, having joined the company through its acquisition of Viptela. Zaheer is a recognized expert in his field, having authored two books – “Cloud Scaled Cisco SD-WAN Solution” and “Troubleshooting IP Routing Protocols” – and holding multiple patents. He is a frequent speaker at leading industry events such as ONUG and CiscoLive, where he shares his insights on the latest trends in networking and security. In addition to his professional achievements, Zaheer is also a passionate coach and mentor, helping to develop the next generation of technology leaders. When he’s not working, Zaheer enjoys playing cricket and ping pong, and spending time with his family.

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