NaaS Hasn't Lived Up to the Hype. Is It Still Worth It?
Network World, Monday, November 2nd, 2026
NaaS adoption has lagged Gartner forecasts, but the Rivers School's move to Meter shows where network as a service can still pay off.
Gartner expected network as a service to reach 15% of enterprises by 2024, but adoption remains at 1% to 5% and its 2026 networking hype cycle places NaaS in the trough of disillusionment.
Network World profiles the Rivers School in Massachusetts, whose aging LAN with 115 Wi-Fi access points needed replacing and was managed by a single employee.
Instead of a piecemeal upgrade, the school chose NaaS vendor Meter in spring 2025.
Meter surveyed the site, designed the network, ran cabling and installed the equipment over the summer, and the network covering 250,000 square feet was live when classes resumed in August.