Extreme Networks Expands Network Vision for the Mobile World

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ENTERPRISE CONNECT -- Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR) today announced its vision for network mobility in the enterprise that reduces infrastructure and operational complexity and creates a network capable of providing pervasive, predictable access, powerful awareness and control for IT. Extreme Networks unveiled its vision and will be showcasing its enterprise network mobility solutions this week at the Enterprise Connect trade show, at booth #1017, Feb. 28-Mar. 3rd, at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

Expectations of the network have changed. With explosive growth in mobility driven by increasing diversity in the number and breadth of tablets, smartphones and media expected to continue, the burden on IT continues to increase. The network has to converge into a single platform that simplifies the user experience, automates tasks for IT, and enables the expansion and diversification of services.

Mobility is no longer relegated to the portability of devices connected to a wireless network. Mobility today means that the network must orchestrate the movement of people, machines and content connecting to it, while adding intelligence to events, policies and business processes.

"Extreme Networks' vision addresses the expectations of CIOs in tackling mobility in the network as part of what we label the Anywhere Networking Revolution," said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president and distinguished research fellow at the Yankee Group.  "Extreme Networks has traditionally delivered mission critical connectivity, and for the mobile world, its' vision raises the bar for organizations to transition from disparate network infrastructures and begin to embrace the exciting future of mobility, creating a fluid enterprise from the converged edge to the data center and cloud."

"Extreme Networks solutions are geared for the new mobile world by helping to eliminate inconsistencies, meeting the expectation of users however they connect, while also maintaining our firm commitment to best-of-breed networking," said Oscar Rodriguez, president and CEO of Extreme Networks.  "From the campus network to the cloud, our extensibility and features delivered with ExtremeXOS® help elevate network mobility to create a connected world of people and machines, where a seamless, high quality experience is the norm."  

The transition to network infrastructure serving the new mobile world will occur in a phased approach.  Early phases deliver a converged wired and wireless enterprise edge, providing heightened awareness and control of individual users, devices and Virtual Machines (VMs).  Subsequent phases extend that seamless user experience with intelligence and control from the network, into the cloud, and on to the 3G/4G mobile infrastructure.

At the heart of the Extreme Networks vision for the mobile future is ExtremeXOS, an extensible modular operating system that is consistent across the network and data center. ExtremeXOS enables customized service layers via its open API, and capability to deliver user awareness, automation, and network prioritization.  

"Using Extreme's open network architecture, based on ExtremeXOS and its intelligent APIs, our staff have developed and deployed a custom network monitoring and host tracking tool that has more than doubled the performance of the previous tool, thus speeding up information gathering and reducing network and switch overhead," said Mark Cockshoot, Assistant Director of IT for Reading University, based in the United Kingdom.

Extreme Networks open network solution helps reset the traditional definition of network mobility — moving away from disparate overlay networks that may not be aligned to respond to the challenge that mobility presents. The company enables IT to deliver a higher quality user experience through:

• Open APIs— Extreme Networks InSite Software Development Kit (SDK) enables customization of the network based on an extensible XML language and open APIs.
• Identity Manager— As a user connects, appropriate controls and service policies can be automatically applied to activities and communications from that user based on location and identity
• Universal Port — Network administrators can leverage a suite of ExtremeXOS-based automation tools that can dynamically manage connected devices for converged communications, power management, network security, and wireless
• XNV™— As a VM moves around the data center, the network can track and enforce settings to stay with it