Extreme Networks Channel Leader On Beating Cisco And HPE Aruba On Simplicity, Profitability With New Partner Program

After closing three major acquisitions in 2017 to the tune of $210 million, @GordonMackintosh, @ExtremeNetworks ' senior director of the vendor's worldwide partner organization, is using the company's newly combined channel program to gain ground on rivals like @Cisco Systems and @HPE @Aruba. Mackintosh says that since launching Jan. 1, the program has already begun attracting Cisco and HPE Aruba partners looking for better margins and relief from the partner-on-partner battles and distracting technology strategies that come with larger vendors' programs. Extreme's program took what Mackintosh considers the best elements of @Avaya, @Brocade and @ZebraTechnologies after Extreme acquired networking assets from each company. "We've integrated four partner programs into one unified partner program," Mackintosh said. "I got to see all the ingredients all the companies were using and what was working well and took the best pieces of each of them." Mackintosh then organized the program into three tiers – Authorized, Gold and Diamond – with an exclusive Black Diamond designation for partners that drive significant new business revenue. The result is a program that focuses on partner enablement and profitability without resorting to an inflexible one-size-fits-all approach. What follows is an edited excerpt of Mackintosh's conversation with CRN.

https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/networking/300099181/extreme-networks-channel-leader-on-beating-cisco-and-hpe-aruba-on-simplicity-profitability-with-new-partner-program.htm

Recapping 2017's biggest trends in networking technology

Editor's note: Cisco accelerated its shift to software, vendors launched new tools for managing data centers, and analytics, fueled by machine learning, stole the spotlight. Here, a recap of some of the most significant 2017 trends in networking technology.  Data center infrastructure trends in networking In February, Cisco joined Microsoft to offer Azure Stack services in its UCS server. Throughout the early months of the year, Cisco revenues continued to fall, dropping for a fifth consecutive quarter because of declining sales of routers and switches. Cisco attracted a lot of attention for its Digital Network Architecture (DNA) software initiative, which included a new line of Catalyst campus switches engineered to pave the way for a more intuitive way to program the network. DNA eliminates the need to program devices manually through the command-line interface; instead engineers use a policy-based approach to determine network behavior. Later that summer, Cisco said it would acquire SD-WAN vendor Viptela for $610 million in a bid to consolidate its WAN offerings. In the fall, Cisco launched Intersight, a software-as-a-service initiative slated to become a management option for the vendor's Unified Computing System and HyperFlex, a hyper-converged infrastructure platform. It also bolstered its Application Centric Infrastructure SDN software by enabling it to run across multiple data centers. Other data center news included Juniper's work on a switch fabric intended for multiple data centers, with a single set of management tools and higher spending on public cloud services. @Juniper also made a series of announcements in December that included the release of bot software aimed at automating certain network functions. Additionally, @Dell EMC made its #NOS standard on new #opennetworking switches and @Arista expanded its #spineleaf architecture for #hyperscale #datacenters. Dell followed up its NOS announcement by releasing a line of high-speed switches for data centers and carriers in the fall. Vendor consolidation gained traction, with @Extreme Networks purchasing the #datacenter business of @Brocade, as well as the networking assets of @Avaya.

http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/450432225/Recapping-2017s-biggest-trends-in-networking-technology

Extreme Closes Brocade Data Center Assets Acquisition, Setting Sights On Cisco, HPE

Printer-friendly version Email this CRN article After months of delays, @ExtremeNetworks has officially acquired @BrocadeCommunications' #datacenter switching, routing and analytics business in a move to turn up the heat on competitors including @CiscoSystems and @HewlettPackardEnterprise.   "We have now significantly strengthened our position in the expanding high-end data center market with the industry-leading solution for enterprise customers," said Extreme CEO Ed Meyercord in a statement Monday. "Through a series of synergistic acquisitions, Extreme is now a top player in the enterprise networking industry and expects to generate over $1 billion in annual revenues." The San Jose, Calif.-based networking vendor acquired Brocade customers, some data center personnel, and technology assets including its SLX, VDX, MLX, Workflow Composer, automation suites and other data center-related products for approximately $55 million. [Related: How Extreme Networks' $210M Acquisition Spree Is Set To Pay Off In $545M In New Revenue] "It's a great strategy to help Extreme expand its presence, customer base, technology portfolio – it's a good deal for the channel, too," said David Rafftery, managing partner at Integration Partners, a Lexington, Mass.-based Extreme partner ranked No. 129 on CRN's 2017 Solution Provider 500 list. "If you're getting close to the data center and you want all the things the Brocade piece offers, you can deploy those features now and you'll have real single-pane-of-glass management over the top. There isn't an enterprise technology networking company today that has their viewpoint." The Brocade deal provides Extreme with $230 million in sales that the company said will be accretive to earnings and cash flow for its fiscal year 2018, which began July 1. [Sponsored Suggested Post: IoTConnex Virtual Conference On Demand Discover new IoT research and insights. Hear solution provider success stories. Find your IoT opportunity.] Brocade is expecting to be acquired by Broadcom by the end of this year but has faced several delays over the course of 2017, including the need for a deeper review of the acquisition by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The initial Brocade-Extreme acquisition deal unveiled in March was supposed to take place immediately after Broadcom acquired Brocade. However, in an effort to acquire Brocade assets as soon as possible, Extreme said earlier this month that it would buy Brocade's data center business directly from the vendor itself. "Our strategic vision has been closely aligned with Extreme Networks' vision throughout this process," said Nabil Bukhari, vice president of Data Center, formerly of Brocade and now with Extreme, in a statement. "Extreme's commitment to build on the innovation and momentum that we have achieved, including a completely refreshed data center portfolio over the past year, will provide our new and existing customers and partners with business continuity that enables them to accelerate digital transformation." The acquisition comes one week after Extreme's Global Partner Summit where the vendor unleashed a slew of news including a new partner program. 

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300094716/extreme-closes-brocade-data-center-assets-acquisition-setting-sights-on-cisco-hpe.htm

Global Scalable Software Defined Networking Market, 2022 By Use Cases, Industry, Geography, Trends, Forecasts - Research and Markets

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By Use Cases, Industry, Geography, Trends, Forecast 2017 - 2022" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering. “Global Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By Use Cases, Industry, Geography, Trends, Forecast 2017 - 2022” Tweet this The Global Scalable Software Defined Networking Market is growing at a projected CAGR of 39.44% during the forecast period of 2017 - 2022. Software defined networking (SDN) is the organization of network services by lower level functionality abstraction and is a major shift in network architecture paving way for unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) applications. Global SDN market revenues comprises of network services, network infrastructure, and applications, control layer and virtualization, support and professional services. Global Scalable software defined networking consist of a large number of telecom service providers, such as China Telecom, Telefonica, France Telecom, Singapore Telecom. It is particularly widespread in emerging nations, which have witnessed a high demand for tablets, mobile phones, phablets and others. The global SDN market is mainly driven by the efficient network infrastructure and increasing mobility and growing demand for cloud services. Moreover, the growth of the market is inhibited by lack of awareness among buyer and standardization Network. The increasing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) adoption and rapid technological advancements provide an opportunity for the growth of SDN market. On the basis of the studies by 2019-2020, 40%-45% of the network spending will be on Software Defined Networking, Therefore, SDN is a potential growth market for the networking vendors contributing vast opportunities in the forecast period. Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Executive Summary 3. Market Insights 4. Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By Use Cases 5. Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By Solutions 6. Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By End Users 7. Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By Verticals 8. Scalable Software Defined Networking Market - By Region 9. Scalable Software Defined Networking Vendor Market Share 10. Competitive Intelligence and Profiles of Scalable Software Defined Networking Market Vendors 11. Investment Analysis 12. Future of Global #ScalableSoftwareDefinedNetworking Market Companies Mentioned #AristaNetworks #BigSwitchNetworks #Brocade Communications Systems Inc. #ChipstartLLC #Cisco #Ericsson #ExtremeNetworks Inc. #HP #Infoblox Inc. #JuniperNetworks #MetaswitchNetworks #Midokura #NetronomeSystems #VyattaInc.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170915005546/en/Global-Scalable-Software-Defined-Networking-Market-2022

SDN Market to Reach $130B by 2022S

With the astounding amount of data generated, #mobiledevices, #cloudcomputing, and #socialmedia are pushing traditional networks to their limit. There is an increased need for advanced network infrastructures to manage this huge amount of data. Computing and storage have benefitted with the innovations in automation and virtualization; however, these benefits are suppressed by the limitations in network capabilities. Software defined networking ( #SDN ) has the potential to revolutionize the legacy data centers by offering an efficient way to control network operations. SDN technology is a programmatic approach for virtually controlling, changing and managing the network behavior through software. SDN helps administrators and network engineers to swiftly respond to the changing business requirements through centralized control. SDN comprises multiple network technologies that are designed to make network more flexible and alert to support storage infrastructure of modern data center. It offers a centralized, programmable network that can dynamically match the changing business requirements and offers benefits such as reduced capital expenditure, reduced operating expenditure, directly programmable, offers centralized management and optimization, enables innovation and delivers agility and flexibility. The global SDN market is expected to grow at an astonishing compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 47% during the period from 2016 to 2022 and reach the market size of more than $130 billion, according to a new report by market analyst Acumen Research and Consulting. Amongst the SDN solutions, physical network infrastructure accounted for the largest share of over 45% in 2015 and is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period. The growth of this segment is attributed by the rapid shift of organizations from conventional network infrastructure to enhanced virtual networking infrastructure. These advanced networking solutions enable organizations to manage and minimize the overall IT infrastructure cost, which in turn, increases the adoption and popularity of such networking solutions and services. Enterprises was the largest revenue generating segment based on end users, and accounted for more than 40% share in 2015. Network and communication technologies have become core components for the proper functioning of all businesses. SDN offers virtual and centralized network infrastructure, which will contribute to the growth of market. Upcoming trends and technological advancements in enterprises such as use cloud computing services, mobile devices, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), IoT (Internet of things), Big Data and others are expected to drive the growth of enterprise segment in SDN market. Increasing number of companies are looking forward to virtually managing their technology and resources with the help of SDN solutions. A reduction in the capital and operational cost with utilization of SDN technology is one of the major key factors driving the growth of the SDN market. North America was the largest market for SDN in 2015, and the region is expected to maintain its leading position throughout the forecast period. North America is one of the early adopters of SDN technology and it is being extensively adopted in various industry verticals including healthcare, BFSI, IT, energy, telecom and others. One of the major reasons for the higher adoption of this technology is the high standardization offered by this technology. Cloud computing, mobility services, and network virtualization are adopted by numerous players in North America at early stage, which further justifies the high share of this region in global SDN market. Some of the leading companies operating in global software defined networking market include #HewlettPackardEnterprise Co., #DellTechnologies Inc., #CiscoSystemsInc., #IBMCorp., #JuniperNetworksInc., #NECCorp., #BigSwitchNetworksInc., #BrocadeCommunicationsSystemsInc., #VMwareInc., and #ExtremeNetworksInc. among others. Expansion in emerging markets, new product launches, and maintaining a diversified product portfolio are some important strategies implemented by market players to sustain market competition.

http://www.iconnect007.com/index.php/article/106264/sdn-market-to-reach-130b-by-2022/106267/?skin=ein

Expanding Extreme eyes Cisco, HPE networking business

Having acquired #Avaya ’s #SDN and switching business, and with its purchase of #Brocade ’s datacentre unit imminent, #ExtremeNetworks is on a mission to secure customers’ hearts and minds and take business from rivals Fast-growing networking hardware and software-defined networking (SDN) systems supplier Extreme Networks has revealed it is looking to target customers of sector giants #Cisco and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise ( #HPE ) as it wraps up a series of acquisitions, most recently of Avaya’s switching and SDN business.

After its concurrent purchase of Brocade’s datacentre networking business is finalised this autumn, Extreme Networks will become the third-largest networking supplier in the world, behind HPE and Cisco. It also bought the wireless local area network (WLAN) assets of Zebra Technologies in September 2016.
Sean Collins, Extreme’s regional director of the UK, Ireland and Benelux, told Computer Weekly: “The ambition is there to be the number one alternative to Cisco and HP with a targeted SDN vision.”

Extreme already markets SDN products and the prominence of Avaya’s own Fabric Connect SDN line, which Collins described as a “clear differentiator”, was a major factor in its purchasing decision.

ZK Research analyst and founder Zeus Kerravala said: “Avaya’s strength in the core and campus perfectly complements Extreme Networks’ market focus. Additionally, the acquisition is a positive move for Extreme Networks, Avaya and both customer bases as it creates a company with best-in-class products that span the entire enterprise network.”

But other observers have suggested that, given the scale of the integration task at hand across the three acquired businesses, challenges may lie ahead for Extreme. Speaking to SearchNetworking in March 2017, Gartner analyst Mark Hung raised questions about whether Extreme would be able to execute across three different fronts at once.

To make this task easier, Extreme has implemented a transactional services agreement to enable the Avaya business to be run by the same people and in the same way, at least to begin with.

“They will continue to run the business and provide a soft landing for customers and partners while we integrate the back-end systems,” said Collins.

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450423930/Expanding-Extreme-eyes-Cisco-HPE-networking-business

Software Defined Everything Market to Grow by huge 29.47% of CAGR post 2017

#CloudComputing plays very vital role in the development and growth of #SDE and #SDN (Software defined networking). SDN is a solution which is adopted by the cloud service providers for the delivery of better virtualized workloads system. In the past few years, many IT companies are adopting cloud computing in their network infrastructure for the better and efficient work balance. SDN does not only reduces the complexity in the available networks but also helps allows the cloud service providers to host multiple number of virtual networks without any need of common separation isolation methods.

The global SDE Market is expected to grow at USD 143 billion by the end of year 2022 with 29.47% of CAGR.

 

For the purpose of this study, The Global SDE Market has been segmented on the basis of Type, Application and Region. On the basis of Types, the market has been segmented on the basis of Software Defined Networking, Software Defined Storage, Software Defined Data Center whereas on the basis of Application, the market has been segmented as BFSI, IT and Telecommunication, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare among others.

 

Software Defined Everything Market Players:

#DellTechnologies  Inc. (U.S.) #HewlettPackardEnterprise (U.S.) #VMware Inc. (U.S.) #ExtremeNetworks (U.S.) #Nexenta Systems Inc. (U.S.) #RiverbedTechnology (U.S.) #SilverPeak (U.S.) #Metaswitch Networks (U.K) #Pivot3 (U.S.) #Infoblox (U.S.)

http://www.satprnews.com/2017/07/13/software-defined-everything-market-to-grow-by-huge-29-47-of-cagr-post-2017/

Extreme buys Brocade's data center networking business for $55m

#ExtremeNetworks will buy #Brocade 's data center networking business for $55 million in cash from its soon-to-be new owner #Broadcom. The deal gives Extreme the products descended from its original Ethernet rival #Foundry. Communications chip maker Broadcom picked up Brocade in November for about $5.5 billion plus $400m of debt, but last month sold off its Wi-Fi division #RuckusWireless for $800m to Arris International. With Broadcom’s acquisition technically still to close, Extreme’s purchase requires that to happen without any issues arising
http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/content-tracks/core-edge/extreme-buys-brocades-data-center-networking-business-for-55m/98079.article

Extreme will buy Avaya's networking business for $100 million

#Avaya has found a buyer for its networking business: #ExtremeNetworks will buy the division for about US$100 million as part of Avaya’s bankruptcy process. The venerable enterprise voice, collaboration and networking company filed for bankruptcy in January and said it would shift its focus from hardware to software and services.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3178064/networking/extreme-will-buy-avayas-networking-business-for-100-million.html