ExtremeSwitching Reviews

We are customers of ExtremeSwitching. 

Their number one valuable feature is the inspection firewalls that carry out a deep packet inspection on a port basis. It's a feature they've had for a number of years. Our customers like the switching, which does the deep packet inspections but can also write traffic from one VLAN to the next.

Extreme has become more aggressive with its pricing. The cost per switch per port has come down quite a bit, making it very competitive in the small and medium-size market. It has made the solution more favorable. 

All the solutions in this market are lacking cyber asset attack, surface management. It's not just Extreme, but Cisco, Juniper and Arista as well. The new multi-access age is upon us. In other words, billions of sensors and billions of IOT devices are all wirelessly connected and therefore cellular 5G communications, wifi and broad-spectrum communications are missing from the edge platforms. As a result, we're doing well with DOD and enterprise customers, because they have their Extreme core switches, but the switches don't understand cellular 5G, broad-spectrum. We provide value in that space. We offer the opportunity to go through APIs and integrate into wireless technologies. It's missing from the platform. 

I've been using this solution for 10 years, from the time it was owned by Motorola. 

The solution is stable. We have certified Extreme engineers who are very familiar with the solution. Depending on the service level agreement with our customers, we typically have three or four qualified staff members that can handle Extreme.

There is no problem with scalability. We have stackable switches for the IDFs and they have core switches for the MDFs. They can extend VLANs to the edge. 

The tech support is very helpful although there's always room for improvement. 

The initial setup is pretty straightforward as long as you have an open API so it's just a matter of connecting the APIs that feed the threat intelligence into the infrastructure.

if you're looking to embrace Extreme, it is a good alternative to Arista or to Cisco, but I would encourage investing in the certification of one or two people; one on the writing side and one on the firewall side. The OS is different for each product and I'm a big fan of defense and depth, meaning different routers at the edge, different switches at the core. Extreme is competitive from a price perspective. They're a really good alternative to a default Cisco, but I just think the OS and the underlying features are kind of quirky. You need someone on staff familiar with it.

Extreme doesn't have their own APs, they're leveraging the Motorola stuff they acquired. A lot of the extreme access points are now end-of-life, and customers that are using the T5, T511's and the T524 switches, which is kind of the VDSL and the Cat3 version, are upgrading because they're end-of-life.

I rate the solution nine out of 10. 

ExtremeSwitching is used in a network for directing traffic.

The most valuable features of ExtremeSwitching are that they are robust and have plenty of features. There is a lot of functionality. They have a lot of other features ExtremeSwitching that you can get involved with but I haven't been using many of them.

ExtremeSwitching has many features but having come from Cisco environments, there is a steep learning curve to learning all the functionality.

I have been using ExtremeSwitching for approximately two years.

ExtremeSwitching is a reliable and stable solution.

I have previously used Cisco switches.

ExtremeSwitching is a good switch. I've dealt with other carriers that are using the ExtremeSwitching and they love them. They find that they have more options and more reliable than Cisco but I haven't had any experience with failures of the ExtremeSwitching or Cisco. They've always been reliable for me.

The initial setup of ExtremeSwitching difficulty depends on the individual. They have a lot of tutorials and information on the internet. If you were trying to take it out of the box and try and configure it without any assistance, it would be difficult. If you didn't have experience doing switching and routing, it would be difficult because the command structure is different than what people are normally used to. For example, Cisco, Dell, and other older switches. Dell and Cisco are similar in the OS configuration but ExtremeSwitching is different.

The amount of people required for maintenance depends on the client's environment. For a medium-sized business, you can have one person maintaining it but that person is going to be on call a lot.

There is a cost for ExtremeSwitching and if you want the support and maintenance, there are additional costs. My clients typically pay for the support and maintenance annually.

There are a lot of solutions coming out that have more features than I need.

I rate ExtremeSwitching an eight out of ten.

We are using ExtremeSwitching X590 at the core level, and we are using ExtremeSwitching X440 at the edge level. We are using them in our company for switching purposes. They are for connecting the LAN network.

They are good. We have been using them for about two years, and we are satisfied with their performance. For our network environment, these switches are working fine.

Their support could definitely be better.

We have been using them for about two years, but we have been using their other switches for more than 12 years. We have upgraded the core and a few edge switches.

They're quite stable.

They're scalable. At this time, we don't have any plans for expansion. In the coming next few months, we are not looking for an increase in their usage.

We hardly required any tech support since the installation. Their tech support is okay and can be improved.

I've been associated with this company for the last seven years, and in this company, we have been using Extreme Switches for more than 12 years.

The installation was good. It was quite straightforward. It was just an upgrade from old switches to new switches, which took two to three hours. The complete installation and mounting took three to four hours. That's it.

We used their channel partner. They don't deal directly with the end clients. They do have their channel partners, and we implemented it through their channel partner.

They needed three to four people. There were two engineers, one manager, and one admin.

It is not a subscription-based model, and there is no licensing concept. We have to pay for hardware AMC. We have hardware on our premises and for the hardware support, we have to go for the annual maintenance contract with the partner. 

I would recommend these switches. Their performance is good.

I would rate these switches an eight out of 10.

We primarily use the solution for the networking infrastructure. Actually, we use lots of products. Some are for the center of the infrastructure, and some are for the distribution and so on. 

In our country, we have established a good relationship with the local representatives, and they made a good contract between us and the US, and they have offered good-priced performance rates for us. Mostly the price and the performance have been very valuable aspects of the solution for us.  

You can scale the solution if you want to.

The stability has been largely pretty good.

The interface could be improved. Over the last few years, there have been acquisitions. Due to that, that, inevitably, there were some difficulties to get one management platform and keep it simple. Therefore, the interface, the user interface, the graphical user interface mostly, can be improved. 

I've been using the solution for more than 20 years. The brand's name has changed three times since I have started using them.

The solution is mostly stable. We haven't really had any large problems with it over ht years. 

The solution can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so. It's not a problem. 

We have about 2,000 users on the solution currently.

I just started at a different company that is also using this solution, and I am unsure as to if the company has plans to increase usage at this time. 

Technical support has been very helpful and responsive. We've enjoyed working with them for the most part so far. 

The initial setup's level of difficulty can vary. It depends on the different settings that are needed by the company.

The pricing of the product has been reasonable. It's not overly expensive. 

I am just a customer and an end-user.

At my company, we tend to use private cloud deployments as we prefer to use private configurations.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. I've been satisfied with how the solution has worked for me over the years. 

I would recommend the solution, however, I would like to point out that it's very important to determine the real necessities of the organizations, and then select key products or brands that make sense.

We have high-power switches, like the ERS. It's good for a dense power environment of over 24 ports. It provides application visibility on the universal switches so I can have security integration with the NAC systems. There are plenty of use cases for this one product.

The analytics and security are great. They give us very good visibility over the network and what's happening at the network level from the switch.

It is stable. 

The solution can scale. 

In general, it's good enough. Maybe they should have an on-premises solution since some customers don't like cloud solutions, and the analytics is cloud-based only.

The initial setup requires assistance. 

The licensing is expensive. 

I've been using the solution for more than three years. 

The solution is very stable and reliable. I'd rate it eight out of ten. 

The scalability is pretty good. I'd rate it eight out of ten in terms of ease of expansion.

We have 12 people currently working on the product. 

So far, I haven't faced any issues and haven't needed any technical support. 

The implementation process requires technical experience.

We configure the devices one by one. How long it takes depends on the size of the solution and if it's connected to the controller or not. If the switches are not controlled, it can take a whole day. If it's controlled, it'll take a few hours.

We only need two people to handle deployment and maintenance tasks. They are network administrators or sometimes engineers.  

A company cannot set up the solution itself. It requires technical experience.

I'm not sure how much ROI we are getting out of the solution as the licensing cost is quite high. 

I don't like the licensing model. It's expensive.

I would recommend the solution to others. I'd rate it eight out of ten in terms of overall functionality. 

The solution excels in configuration and other aspects. It offers reliability and performance.

ExtremeSwitching hardware lacks flexibility compared to some other options. 

ExtremeSwitching is stable.

The scalability of the Extremeswitching solution is uncertain. Further evaluation is required to determine if it is satisfactory.

There are some challenges with the availability and expertise of ExtremeSwitching engineers. Technical cases often seem already open when assigned, but there can be delays in getting assigned to an engineer. The engineers are generally helpful and capable of resolving issues during the session. 

Neutral

I have used Arista Networks. Arista Networks offers various platforms for networking solutions, but they do not have a specific platform dedicated to cybersecurity. Instead, they provide networking solutions primarily for data centres, cloud computing, and high-performance computing environments.

If you want to run the switch as a standalone unit, not integrated into the fabric, then deployment is easy. However, integrating it with the fabric technology requires additional work and setup.

I rate the initial setup a five out of ten.

Actually, like any other vendors, ExtremeSwitching is acquiring companies. They are either acquiring entire companies or obtaining specific technologies from other companies. As I mentioned earlier, in the case of Campos, they acquired Avaya switches, and they have been performing well with that acquisition. Subsequently, they acquired a company, or rather the technology from a company, called Brocade.

The product is expensive because of its working nature.

Brocade was previously very good at data centre switching. The switches were suitable for data centres but not for Compass. They performed well when we were with Brocade. When Extreme acquired it, they didn't improve it or hire more engineers to enhance the technology— some customers are experiencing issues with these switches, which has impacted Extreme's reputation.  e used to sell Combo switches, and our customers were happy with them.

ExtremeSwitching use uses its fabric technology.

If you want to access any switches, it's like using a CLI. It is a command-line interface; you can run commands to perform actions. The centralized management of these switches is also controlled through the command line. The customer prefers GUI for traffic control. There might be an alpha version of this GUI, but there's no information yet. Consequently, the customer faces challenges managing these switches because they're unfamiliar with such interfaces.

Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten.

I am using ExtremeSwitching for networking in my organization.

The performance of ExtremeSwitching is good.

I have been using ExtremeSwitching for approximately four years.

The stability of ExtremeSwitching is good.

We have 13 people using this solution in my organization.

I was satisfied with the technical support.

The installation ExtremeSwitching is straightforward.

There is no license required to use the solution. The hardware controller is expensive, and this is why I prefer controlling ExtremeSwitching on the cloud.

I would recommend ExtremeSwitching for others.

I rate ExtremeSwitching a nine out of ten.

Memory configuration is easy.

It could be cheaper in general.

I have been using this solution for five years. It's useful for exporting files.

It's deployed on-premises.

The stability is good. I'm satisfied with the performance.

Technical support is fine.

Setup was easy. It only took a couple of hours to set up. We used a team of two engineers for deployment.

The price is expensive. We pay for a license, but you have to pay more if you want to increase the number.

I would rate this solution 7 out of 10.

It's better to use one solution than to combine ExtremeSwitching with another solution.