Centralized switch management has streamlined daily operations but reporting still needs improvementThe reason clients select ExtremeManagement is because we have existing Extreme customers who are looking for a centralized management solution to manage their Extreme Switches. ExtremeManagement is not only for managing Extreme Switches; it can also manage other third-party solutions such as Cisco or Juniper or any other third party. This provides good flexibility for managing even third-party solutions. ExtremeManagement offers a lot of management options, including the ability to back up the configuration on a scheduled basis and to upgrade the switches' firmwares on a scheduled basis. There is a workflow feature similar to orchestration, which is related to automation. Regarding threat detection with ExtremeManagement, there is no specific feature, but in case of any failure detection or network issues, ExtremeManagement can send a notification to the users and to the admin. ExtremeManagement itself does not include a security or cybersecurity feature; however, there is an additional module called ExtremeControl that you can add, which is a network access control or NAC solution. ExtremeAnalytics is also a very good add-on to ExtremeManagement that can analyze all the traffic coming to the switch for incoming and outgoing traffic. It checks everything even up to Layer 7, the application layer, which I believe maybe some other switches management solutions do not have. This feature is fully compatible with Extreme Switches because the switches can show the application layer traffic. The reporting capabilities of ExtremeManagement are good, but I cannot say they are perfect. Everybody can read it, but in our region, especially in Saudi Arabia and the Arab universe, some customers are requesting Arabic results, which makes it somewhat challenging for us and the vendor. Not all vendors have that capability, and sometimes the vendor asks for adding a feature request, which may take time. I cannot say this is something negative, but in our region, some customers, especially non-English speakers, require that. In general, reporting is good, though not perfect. The integration of ExtremeManagement with other Extreme products and third-party solutions is easy. It does not require specific requirements for integration with other third-party switches. However, there are limitations for integration with other third-party products, especially with firewalls from security companies. When it comes to network devices, it is very easy to integrate with.
