Event
Summary
Every year Network Magazine examines all of the network products and rates
them to determine best of breed in their area of expertise. The Extreme
Networks (NASDAQ:EXTR) BlackDiamond 6800 Enterprise Backbone Device not
only outperforms its competition, but also incorporates features previously
found only in firewalls and load balancers.
Layer 3 Ethernet switching is no longer a wish list item for network managers
it's a reality. Extreme Networks has not only set the standard for Layer
3 switching with its robust feature set, but also has extended its QoS
feature set into Layer 4.
Market
Impact
The BlackDiamond 6800 series of Enterprise switches has made a major impact
on the well-established and mainstream switch providers. Extreme at one
point was looked upon as an outsider with no chance to survive. Now they
are the leading manufacturer in Ethernet switching. This award is just
the icing on the cake for Extreme Networks.
Extreme
Networks has raised the bar on all of the switching vendors by not only
offering the basic features found in a layer 3 device, but also including
a feature packed device that incorporates functions generally found in
additional external devices. These additional features are all incorporated
under an extremely powerful piece of software called ExtremeWare. ExtremeWare
software suite allows network managers to prioritize traffic based on
application or available bandwidth, in essence returning network control
back to the network manager.
User
Recommendations
Extreme Networks sold more Layer 3 ports last year than any other vendor.
This is not a reason to buy a product from any one vendor, but you do
have a reason when you include the total functionality associated with
this switch compared to any other switch on the market. With the combination
of wire-speed routing and a software suite that shares the same architecture
across the entire Extreme Network product line, one can make the most
complex network simple and scaleable.