Extreme Networks Elements Can Help Partners Create Future-Focused Autonomous Networks
Extreme Networks is rolling out Extreme Elements, which brings together pieces of its existing networking technologies that can be mixed and matched by partners and end customers to build a more customized, autonomous network of the future, the company said.
Enterprises need flexible and customizable networks that include a combination of software, hardware and services.
To that end, Extreme Networks is introducing Extreme Elements, a concept that that brings together pieces of its existing Smart OmniEdge, Automated Campus and Agile Data Center portfolios that can be mixed and matched by partners and end customers to build a customized, autonomous network.
At the same time, Extreme introduced a brand-new component to Extreme Elements: ExtremeAI Security, an application that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and remediate threats against IoT devices, the company revealed at the Extreme Connect User Conference on Wednesday.
ExtremeAI Security offers behavioral analysis, automated remediation, and containment to defend against network-based cyberattacks on IoT devices, the company said. ExtremeAI Security can contain these threats using machine-learning and without manual intervention. The solution also offers multi-vendor interoperability, granular analytics, and behavioral monitoring and baselining.
The combination of ExtremeAI Security alongside Extreme's Elements provides the "building blocks" that enterprises need as they work toward the end goal: an autonomous network, said Nabil Bukhari, Extreme’s senior vice president of product.
"In addition to digitizing the people and processes, the autonomous enterprise is about the experiential portion of the enterprise," Bukhari said. "For people that are interacting with enterprise, it's about how we provide them with a contextual experience."
From a networking point of view, an autonomous network can configure, monitor, and analyze itself, and can even make changes to its configuration continuously and without intervention. The technology that enables autonomous networking is AI and machine learning, which is already embedded in Extreme's solutions.
Extreme Elements, which have been fortified with AI and machine learning, include Extreme Management Center, Extreme Workflow Composer, Extreme Software-Driven Infrastructure, ExtremeAnalytics, and Defender for IoT, as well as ExtremeAI Security. These Elements all can interoperate with each other, or can still be used separately, Extreme said.
Many customers see products as standalone offerings, but by offering Extreme Elements, the company wants users to see its solutions as pieces of the autonomous networks.
"Products are no longer standalone even though they can do things by themselves. They have to plug and play with all of the other products a user has. When you start integrating and combining, you can make something new and do more," Bukhari said.
That opens the door for big opportunities for partners, he said. "It’s an opportunity for existing partners to elevate or expand their business, but it also allows newer partners to become part of the ecosystem. Everything that is happening in society today is being delivered or facilitated by networks. The scope of networks are so broad at this time, so there is huge potential for partners to expand their roles with customers."
Extreme's software and hardware Elements can be combined with its portfolio of services and support from its own Professional Services organization, as well as its partner community. Extreme does about 85 percent of its business through the channel, according to Norman Rice, Extreme Networks’ Chief Marketing, Development and Product Operations Officer.