What is Connectivity-as-a-Service?

In today’s digital-first world, the demand for fast, secure, and scalable connectivity has never been higher. As companies adopt cloud technologies, the concept of Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) has emerged as a game-changing solution for businesses looking to enable secure, software-defined networks without the need for physical infrastructure.
Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) allows organizations to create and manage network connections as a service, providing secure, high-performance connectivity over the Internet. This approach uses software to define, create, and control networks, typically eliminating the need for costly hardware or infrastructure. The key innovation here is the overlay network, which sits on top of the existing Internet infrastructure, adding an extra layer of security and performance control.
Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) allows businesses to significantly reduce infrastructure costs, scale rapidly, and focus on core competencies by using a vendor-managed solution. It provides enhanced security through zero trust principles and enables secure, reliable connectivity over the Internet without the need for complex, costly private networks.
Effortless Cloud Connectivity
CaaS enables secure, scalable connectivity over the internet without typical infrastructure costs.
Rapid Secure Networks
Instant Secure Connectivity
Zero Trust Networks
Embeddable AppNets
Seamless Integration
NetFoundry Cloud: Modern Connectivity-as-a-Service
NetFoundry Cloud offers a powerful example of Connectivity-as-a-Service in action. Using software-defined overlay networks, NetFoundry enables companies to spin up secure, scalable network connections in minutes. With the rise of distributed applications, IoT devices, and smart connected products, businesses need reliable and secure ways to manage connectivity across environments.
This is where NetFoundry Cloud excels by offering the ability to create zero trust overlay networks, known as AppNets, that are designed to be embeddable in applications and smart connected products. AppNets are secure, software-defined, zero trust overlay networks that provide seamless, scalable, and programmable connectivity across distributed environments.
NetFoundry’s CaaS model makes it easy to create secure connections over the Internet, leveraging existing infrastructure without compromising security. In just a few clicks, businesses can spin up a secure network segment, ensuring that their communication and data transmission are shielded from vulnerabilities often associated with traditional networks.
Business Benefits of Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS)
Choosing Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) over building and managing your own network infrastructure offers significant advantages to businesses, particularly when using a vendor-managed service like NetFoundry Cloud. Here’s why:
1. Cost Efficiency
Building and managing your own network infrastructure requires substantial investment in hardware, ongoing maintenance, and IT resources. With CaaS, these costs are drastically reduced. By leveraging a vendor-managed service, businesses eliminate the need for capital-intensive network infrastructure, freeing up resources to focus on core business initiatives. The Internet, which is free and readily available, can be securely harnessed as the foundation of your connectivity needs. Instead of relying on costly private networks, businesses can use secure overlay networks to provide the same level of security without the infrastructure overhead.
2. Speed and Agility
Setting up and maintaining traditional infrastructure can take weeks or even months, slowing down product launches and operational efficiencies. With Connectivity-as-a-Service, businesses can spin up secure overlay networks in minutes, allowing for rapid prototyping, testing, and production deployment. NetFoundry Cloud, for example, offers easy-to-use tools like the NetFoundry Console and NetFoundry Orchestration, enabling quick provisioning and scaling of secure networks without needing specialized network management expertise.
3. Scalability
A major benefit of using CaaS is its inherent scalability. As your business grows, so do your network needs. Rather than continually investing in and upgrading your infrastructure, CaaS allows you to scale up (or down) seamlessly. Whether you’re adding new locations, connecting additional devices, or expanding to new markets, CaaS enables you to scale your network on demand, effortlessly accommodating new business requirements.
4. Focus on Core Competencies
Managing complex network infrastructure can be a distraction for product teams and IT departments. By adopting a CaaS model, businesses can focus on what matters most: their products and services. NetFoundry Cloud handles the security, provisioning, and management of the network, allowing your teams to concentrate on innovation and business growth. No need to worry about the complexities of networking when your vendor provides an easy-to-use, fully managed solution.
5. Enhanced Security with Zero Trust
Traditionally, businesses have relied on private networks for secure communication, but these networks are costly and come with their own challenges. By leveraging CaaS and using zero trust overlay networks, companies can securely harness the Internet for connectivity. NetFoundry Cloud ensures that all communication across the Internet is secured with zero trust principles, meaning every user, device, and connection is authenticated and verified before gaining access. This eliminates the security risks of traditional network setups, such as VPNs or open firewalls, while maintaining the ease and cost-effectiveness of using the Internet for connectivity.
6. Faster Time to Market
With the flexibility of CaaS, businesses can move faster. By reducing the time and resources needed to set up and manage network infrastructure, companies can launch products quicker, deliver services faster, and respond to market demands with greater agility. This can provide a significant competitive advantage in industries where speed is essential.
Scalable CaaS Advantage
Cost Efficiency
Speed and Agility
Scalability
Focus on Core Business
Enhanced Security
Faster Time to Market
Transformative Network Solutions
End-to-end encryption
No open ports
Micro-segmentation
Harnessing the Internet for Secure Connectivity
One of the greatest advantages of Connectivity-as-a-Service is the ability to use the Internet as the backbone for your network. The Internet is free and widely accessible, and when harnessed securely using zero trust overlay networks like NetFoundry’s AppNets, it can provide businesses with reliable, scalable, and secure connectivity for products and services. Rather than relying on costly, proprietary private networks, businesses can use CaaS to leverage the full potential of the Internet while maintaining the highest levels of security and performance.
NetFoundry makes using the Internet safe and secure by providing zero trust overlay networks called AppNets. These software-defined networks operate over the public Internet but ensure that every user, device, and connection is authenticated and verified before gaining access. With end-to-end encryption, no open ports, and micro-segmentation, NetFoundry eliminates vulnerabilities associated with traditional networks like VPNs and firewalls. By leveraging NetFoundry Cloud, businesses can easily spin up secure networks in minutes, securely embedding connectivity into their applications and smart products without relying on customer networks or exposing sensitive data to potential threats.
By embracing Connectivity-as-a-Service with a vendor like NetFoundry, businesses can transform the Internet into a secure, high-performance connectivity platform that supports growth, innovation, and operational efficiency—all without the high costs and complexities of traditional private networks.
Zero Trust Connectivity: Secure the Internet for Your Business
Fortified Connectivity Solutions
AppNets reduce vulnerabilities from traditional approaches like VPNs or open firewall ports
Dynamic Mesh Connectivity
Mesh architecture for enhanced scalability, redundancy, resilience, and fault-tolerant connectivity.
Manage and Use Your Networks with Ease
NetFoundry Console enables businesses to easily configure, monitor, and manage all aspects of their overlay networks, providing a user-friendly interface that takes the complexity out of network management. At the same time, NetFoundry Orchestration automates the provisioning of your zero trust mesh network across the major cloud providers. Whether you’re connecting your enterprise, securing your IoT devices, or building secure communication into your applications, NetFoundry’s tools make it simple.
In a mesh network architecture, each node (or connection point) communicates with others, creating a dynamic, self-healing network where data can be routed through multiple paths to ensure high availability and resilience. When combined with zero trust security, this mesh network ensures that every node and data flow is secure, reducing vulnerabilities from traditional network approaches like VPNs or open firewall ports.
The Future of Connectivity: Embeddable Zero Trust Networks
The future of connectivity lies in zero trust overlay networks, and NetFoundry Cloud is paving the way for businesses to make this shift with ease. Companies can now turn the Internet into a secure platform for connectivity, empowering their product teams to focus on innovation and business outcomes, rather than the complexities of network security.
With NetFoundry, product providers no longer need to worry about the high costs and vulnerabilities of traditional networks. By embedding zero trust connectivity into their applications or products, businesses can confidently scale, test, and launch their solutions without concern. NetFoundry manages the network so your teams can focus on delivering the features and benefits that matter most.
NetFoundry not only simplifies the creation of secure overlay networks for connectivity, but also makes it easy to embed these networks directly into applications and products as code. With NetFoundry Edge, a comprehensive set of SDKs and tunnelers, product developers can design secure networking and connectivity directly into their solutions from the ground up. This means that when these products are deployed on customer networks, they no longer need to rely on the customer’s infrastructure. Instead, they just require Internet access, avoiding the complexity and risks associated with traditional corporate networks.
In addition to this flexibility, embedding NetFoundry Edge ensures that companies don’t introduce any vulnerabilities into their customers’ systems. Because the connectivity is self-contained and zero trust by design, there is no need for access to internal or corporate networks, reducing the attack surface and eliminating potential security gaps. This approach allows businesses to deploy secure, scalable solutions that are resilient, easy to manage, and capable of protecting sensitive data across any environment—all without the typical network security concerns.
Zero Trust Transformation
Embed zero trust connectivity, secure the Internet, and accelerate product innovation.
Unlock Connectivity Potential
Secure, scalable connectivity without complexity or high costs.
Conclusion: NetFoundry Makes Secure Connectivity Simple
Connectivity is essential for modern businesses, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. NetFoundry’s Connectivity-as-a-Service turns the Internet into a powerful, secure platform for your business, ensuring that your networks are fast, reliable, and protected by zero trust principles. With tools like the NetFoundry Console and Orchestration, you can create secure overlay networks in minutes, giving your product teams the freedom to focus on innovation.
By choosing NetFoundry Cloud, you gain the ability to spin up secure, scalable networks that work seamlessly across all major cloud platforms, without the cost or hassle of managing private infrastructure. Start your journey toward secure, zero trust connectivity today, and unlock the full potential of your products and services.
Get started with NetFoundry Cloud and transform the way you connect your business to the Internet.