* Extreme Networks' new services
EDITOR’S NOTE: The name of this newsletter will change slightly next month, from “High-Speed LANs” to simply “LANs.” The focus remains the same; it’s just that the name is being changed to more accurately reflect the content. Thanks for reading.
Extreme Networks this week introduced two services to help “midsize” companies with their LAN implementations.
Most vendors want to address the needs of midsize companies. As you can imagine, you can sell large packages to large companies, but there are only so many of those companies. Or you can sell gear to the many small companies out there, but that’s a lower-margin business.
The middle tier is elusive, in part because those companies want some of the capabilities found in large networks but without the high costs. It’s also hard to exactly define. Extreme defines midsize networks as those ranging from 100 to 1,000 ports.
The services include a security assessment and a convergence-readiness assessment, which are intended to help customers plan their Extreme rollouts. Extreme has also partnered with security and IP telephony vendors to fill out their offerings. The company targeted the services at midsize companies that often don’t have the staff or budget of larger shops.
The security assessment takes two days, where Extreme will probe sections of the network to see if there are major security issues or faulty network design evident. In the convergence-readiness assessment, Extreme looks at potential areas of voice and data traffic congestion, pointing out areas that require traffic management and bandwidth prioritization to make sure the voice gets through in a timely fashion.
The security assessment has a fixed price of $6,000, and the convergence-readiness assessment starts at $9,500.
On a related note, my colleague Phil Hochmuth recently interviewed the new CEO of Extreme, and you can find that interview here.
