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Mplify summit shows gap between federation and execution in NaaS

Source Decision Insights Record Published October 15, 2026 Companies 5
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5 companies named across 7 categories, one of 152 articles referencing specialized. Previous coverage: Arctic Wolf launches SwarmView for AI investigation visibility (Oct 2026).

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Information Technology / Networking / Enterprise & Data Center Networking / Enterprise Network-as-a-Service (NaaS)

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Dell'Oro Group reports that enterprise networking and security are converging, but delivering integrated services across providers remains difficult. Observations from Mplify's Boston summit highlight the gap between federation goals and execution. The findings matter to enterprise technology decision-makers.

Networking and Security Convergence

The analyst describes the enterprise WAN through three domains: the user/WAN edge, WAN middle mile, and cloud/application edge. Each has traditionally been served by different technologies and vendors. Convergence is occurring horizontally as providers extend capabilities across domains and vertically as networking, security, observability, and automation become more tightly integrated.

Dell'Oro Group states that convergence does not signal the end of specialization, and development continues within each domain. The WAN middle mile is gaining renewed importance as enterprises connect private data centers, public clouds, AI factories, and neocloud providers. AI is accelerating these developments, but the analyst says it did not create the underlying challenges.

Integrated Platforms and Federated Ecosystems

One approach is technology convergence, in which providers deliver more networking and security functions through a common platform. The alternative is a federated ecosystem of specialized technology and service providers. The analyst notes that the two approaches are not mutually exclusive, because integrated platforms depend on third-party connectivity.

The analyst states that the central question is which approach delivers required capabilities with the least operational friction. The analyst says both models are expected to remain relevant, with competitive advantage tied to how effectively providers turn technology and partnerships into a simpler customer experience.

Federation Efforts at the Boston Summit

Federation was one of the strongest themes at the Boston event, with broad agreement that no single service provider can deliver every component of a global enterprise network. Bob Victor, Comcast Business's Chief Product Officer and Mplify Board Chair, discussed efforts to connect automated workflows between Comcast and Colt. Verizon described its use of Mplify's LSO Sonata APIs for wholesale transactions.

Automating service discovery and quoting differs from automating end-to-end delivery, according to the analysis. Legacy OSS/BSS environments, inconsistent operational data, limited automation among smaller partners, and contractual complexity remain obstacles. The analyst concludes that federation requires changes to business models alongside technical interoperability.

Standardization and Agentic Automation

The analyst describes Mplify's work on Carrier Ethernet service definitions, LSO APIs, common product models, and certification programs as strategically important. Standardization can create opportunities for smaller and specialized providers to join larger ecosystems without building custom integrations for each relationship. Mplify's LSO framework now supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Ongoing initiatives address reusable AI-agent capabilities, trusted provider discovery, and agent-to-agent coordination. The analyst states that the agentic federation vision remains ahead of broad production adoption. Considerable work remains on conventional service automation, and the analyst calls the effort directionally constructive.

Analyst Outlook

The analyst identifies two factors that will determine the next phase of NaaS: how far technology providers can simplify enterprise networking through integration, and how quickly the service provider ecosystem can close the interoperability gap. Success depends on adoption, operational integration, and commercial execution, the analyst says. The strongest evidence of progress will be consistent discovery, ordering, delivery, security, and assurance of services across multiple providers.

The analyst concludes that the future of NaaS depends on whether multi-provider networks can operate with the simplicity and accountability enterprises expect from a single platform. For Decision Insights readers, the analysis links the choice between integrated platforms and specialized providers to operational friction and customer experience. This Analyst Signals brief reflects a neutral, fact-based summary of the original research note.

Blog post, originally published by Mauricio Sanchez at delloro.com.

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