Gartner defines global WAN services as POP-based services supporting multiregional corporate networks across geographies. These services address enterprise challenges such as changing working practices, accelerating digital and cloud transformations, and improving the agility of enterprise networks. Providers own and operate their own global core networks and sell directly to the client. Services include transport-centric/unmanaged, managed, co-managed, or network as a service via a monthly recurring fixed or usage-based model. Core transport services are often complemented by ancillary services like carrier-based cloud interconnect, managed software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), SASE or managed dual-vendor SASE with SD-WAN paired with SSE security. Services are measurable and consumable through web-based customer interfaces via portals and programmable APIs. As digital business initiatives increase the demands on the enterprise network, enterprises rely on global WAN services to deliver global and regional fixed, wide-area networking connectivity. These services consist of backbone network transport and last-mile access connections to deliver connectivity to individual enterprise sites, such as large or remote/branch office locations. Although these are core to the offer, service providers also offer more transformational capabilities enabled by the underlay service network.
The managed network services (MNS) market focuses on externally provided, network operations center (NOC) functionality, as well as relevant network and security life cycle services that deliver current and emerging requirements to end users. Gartner defines the MNS market as globally capable providers of remote service management functions for the network and security operations of enterprise networks, including: Managed LAN services (MNS for LAN) Managed WAN services (MNS for WAN) Managed security (MNS for security) functions