  Various visions on the forthcoming sixth Generation (6G) networks point
towards flexible connect-and-compute technologies to support future innovative
services and the corresponding use cases. 6G should be capable to accommodate
ever-evolving and heterogeneous applications, future regulations, and diverse
user-, service-, and location-based requirements. A key element towards
building smart and energy sustainable wireless systems beyond 5G is the
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), which offers programmable control and
shaping of the wireless propagation environment.
  Capitalizing on this technology potential, in this article we introduce two
new concepts: i) wireless environment as a service, which leverages a novel
RIS-empowered networking paradigm to trade off diverse, and usually
conflicting, connectivity objectives; and ii) performance-boosted areas enabled
by RIS-based connectivity, representing competing service provisioning areas
that are highly spatially and temporally focused. We discuss the key
technological enablers and research challenges with the proposed networking
paradigm, and highlight the potential profound role of RISs in the recent Open
Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture.
