Johannesburg, 05 Sep 2014
Extreme Networks is today able to build networks that deliver on the promises and expectations of the 'experience economy' so closely linked to the quality of experience (QOE) quotient which, as discussed in "Meeting the challenges of the 'experience economy'" published on 29 August, is central to Extreme Network's marketplace strategy.
Extreme Networks' ability to provide simple, fast and smart networks targeted at businesses, sports and entertainment venues, schools, hospitals, government departments, manufacturers and more was highlighted in the previous article - along with a number of its key product offerings.
Continuing with this theme in this sequel, it is recognised that even the harshest of environments require adaptability and visibility when it comes to network control. Here the watchwords are "adaptive networks" representing a concept which Extreme addresses with its Terabit-class, convergence-ready, modular and standalone switch family.
Extreme Networks' S-Series switches provide high-performance scalability along with granular visibility and control over users, services and applications to meet the requirements of today's business applications and the QoE demands of their users.
Optimised for use with key technologies, including voice and video, virtualisation and cloud computing, the S-Series is an extremely robust and flexible solution capable of supporting the ever-changing landscape of today's campus connectivity and enterprise data centre environments.
It is available in a range of configurations, including a stand-alone system with 48 ports of Triple Speed Ethernet, or 48 ports of Gigabit Ethernet SFP connectivity and four ports of 10-Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ connectivity. In addition there are 3-, 4-, 6-, and 8-slot chassis options offering from 180 to 576 ports of Gigabit Ethernet or 12, 64, 96, or 128 ports of 10-Gigabit Ethernet.
Complementing the S-Series is Extreme Networks' K-Series, a versatile, high-density switching solution for campus edge to small core environments. A cost-effective, flow-based switching solution, it provides exceptional levels of automation, visibility and control from the network edge to the enterprise core. These flexible, modular switches significantly reduce operational costs while still offering premium features.
Designed to address the challenges associated with growing demands for access to new applications and services, the K-Series protects businesses' traffic and supports changing operational needs. These include the consumerisation of IT and the proliferation of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programmes that require more robust location, identification, visibility and overall management capabilities.
Extreme's support of the experience economy is clearly evident in its Summit X480 series switch. This is a versatile, high-end Ethernet switch aimed at data centre, enterprise aggregation and carrier Ethernet deployments. It helps optimise application performance for a variety of network deployments with its rich features and high scalability.
From a technical standpoint, the Summit X480 provides high density for Gigabit Ethernet in a small 1RU form factor. It provides for up to 48 ports in one system and 384 ports in a stacked system using backward compatible SummitStack, Extreme's virtual chassis technology which uses 10GbE ports as stacking ports.
SummitStack, which comes in a number of stacking bandwidth options ranging from 80Gbps to 320Gbps, uses standard cabling and optics technologies. The Summit X480 option offers 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for up to 18 ports in one system and 80 ports in a stacked system using QSFP+ to SFP+ breakout cables.
Tackling emerging demands from voice/data convergence and storage, the Summit X480 provides highly scalable Layer 2/3 switching and MPLS/HVPLS by supporting up to 512K Layer 2 MAC addresses or 512K IPv4 Longest Prefix Match routing tables.
Key features of the Summit X480 include its ability to enable data centre, enterprise and carrier Ethernet aggregation, together with core backbone deployments in AC-powered and DC-powered environments.
Moreover, Summit X480 simplifies network operation with the ExtremeXOS modular operating system (OS), available across a wide range of Extreme Networks Ethernet switches. The ExtremeXOS operating system provides high availability and simplicity with one OS - everywhere in the network.
Extreme Networks offers a multi-vendor solution that provides an unparalleled range of choices for fine-grained network access control. This is network access control (NAC), a complete, standards-based, multi-vendor interoperable pre-connect and post-connect network access control solution for wired and wireless LAN and VPN users.
Using Extreme Networks NAC Gateway appliances and/or NAC Gateway Virtual Appliance with NetSight NAC management configuration and reporting software, network managers and IT administrators can now deploy a leading-edge NAC solution to ensure only appropriate users have access to the right information from the right place at the right time - including time of day, location, authentication types, device and OS type and end system and user groups.
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