ExtremeCloud IQ Reviews

Our customers use the product to control access points and manage wireless networks. 

One of the platform's main advantages is its simplicity of use. Another valuable feature is the automation of Wi-Fi configurations, which allows the wireless network to auto-reconfigure in case of problems.

The product could support multi-vendor infrastructures. 

I have been working with Extreme CloudIQ for three to four years.

The product is stable. I rate the stability a ten. 

I would rate the scalability of Extreme CloudIQ as a perfect ten.

The initial setup was exceptionally straightforward. It took only a few minutes per device to get up and running.

Our customers have seen a return on investment. The deployment is easy and quick, and since it is a cloud solution, it is not costly, resulting in a fast ROI.

The product pricing is reasonable. It follows a subscription model, with licenses costing $150 for the pilot license and $50 for the navigator license per year.

Extreme CloudIQ supports network scalability very well due to its easy licensing model. Extending the application's use is simple: merely add new licenses.

It responds to current trends in cloud networking management. For example, they are preparing a copilot license that will include artificial intelligence and machine learning features, which are currently market trends.

I rate it an eight. 

• Scalability - No controller so no single aggregation point and no single point of failure!
• Resiliency - All AP's in a common hive automatically create a mesh network so that if there are issues upstream in the wired network, traffic is routed around the failure. Each AP runs a layer 2 SPF algorithm to automatically determine the shortest/best path from one point to another.
• Security - All AP's have a statefull firewall built-in which makes security policy enforcement at the edge a breeze. Unlike a lot of wireless vendors, security is a cornerstone of the Aerohive product.
• Mobility - With the BR100/BR200 or the AP 350 our road warriors can take the corporate WLAN with them wherever they travel. The BR100/BR200 devices allow you to utilize both a wired network as well as a 4G USB dongle to provide transport for the IPsec connection back to the Cloud Virtual Gateway (CVG). The CVG is a virtual appliance that you run in the datacenter to terminate the IPsec tunnels.
• Simplicity - A GUI so simple to use that you truly cannot screw it up.
• Serviceability - This is especially nice for those hard to reach AP's. If for some reason an AP loses its mind and cannot be reached either via the mesh network or via the wired network it will dynamically engage a feature called the Access Console, or AC. The AC has a special SSID that is broadcast that lets you login to the device for troubleshooting purposes.

Wireless is critical infrastructure in my environment. If my drivers cannot use their handheld scanners to connect to the network for inventory then the company is losing money. With all of the resiliency features and ability to scale I never have to worry about whether people can actually get work done. I'll go weeks at a time without needing to even look at the Hive manager interface and when I do it's because I need to either provision a new AP or update a network policy. It is pretty much a "set it and forget it" product.

I can honestly say that I cannot find a single item where Aerohive needs to be improved. I have been a customer from pretty much the beginning so to see how they have evolved and grown is pretty amazing.

I have used Aerohive at two different companies between 2007 and now.

Aside from the typical learning curve that goes along with any new product I had no deployment issues.

In the early days there were some stability issues with the code, but they corrected them quickly. We had instances where the data plane on the AP's would randomly stop forwarding traffic which of course caused the wireless clients to not be able to reach the rest of the network.

Never. No controller = no bottleneck = no single point of failure

Customer service is top notch. If there have ever been non-technical issues with things such as Hive manager licensing they have always been right on top of things.

Tech support is hands down one of the best collection of individuals you'll ever deal with. The problem is that their product is so solid that I can't remember the last time I've had to interface with them.

I have personally used many different vendors’ products such as Trapeze, Aruba, and Cisco. Dealing with those solutions after having dealt with Aerohive was pure torture. I used to work for a Cisco Gold partner where our major client base was K-12. I dare you to try and get Bonjour or any other multicast based application to work with a Cisco WLAN. You can do it, but it is a painstaking experience. Every enterprise should be Aerohive in my opinion, but K-12 especially should be taking a serious look.

Initial setup is ridiculously easy. If you're going with the on-premise Hive manager then you install the OVA, get into the text-based setup, assign a hostname and network information, and then launch the web GUI. From there you are two minutes away from having a functioning wireless network. If you're going with the Hive Manager Online (HMOL) then it is even easier. The AP's find their own way to the Hive manager either via DHCP options or via a DNS lookup for their HMOL.

We implemented Aerohive in-house.

This is not something I have calculated at this point.

It has been a while, but I believe it was around 5k for the Hive manager virtual appliance and then the price of each AP which range from $400-$1100. Day to day cost is pretty much nothing other than when I need to provision a new AP or update a network policy. As I said before, I can go weeks at a time without even looking at it.

Yes, we looked at Aruba and Trapeze. The Trapeze folks almost got into a fist fight in the data center and the Aruba folks were so ridiculously arrogant I couldn't stand it.

If you're going to have a bake-off try Aerohive last because you won't want to take it out. Take this from someone who is about to sit the CCIE Route/Switch lab, just because it doesn't say Cisco doesn't mean it isn't top notch gear.

The WIFI planning tool is incredibly useful for determining proper AP location throughout our campus. The mesh technology also provides a robust infrastructure for the many guests who frequent our campus.

Previously, we had a Ubiquiti WIFI system across our 32 acre campus. The signal strength was great, but it was not robust. Once 10-15 clients connected to an AP the whole system would slow to a crawl. Aerohive changed that for us. We now have no issues of automatically load balancing all of our APs.

I would love to see a more granular web filter. Specifically, I'd like to be able to see what content clients are accessing from each AP. Currently, we get general information (ex. Google App or SSL Gmail) but no details.

~ 1 year

We did not have any issues with our deployment. I'm not sure why their is a minimum character count on a question asking if you experienced any issues with deployment. If the answer is no, then the answer is no. Nuff said.

We did not experience any issues with stability. Once configured, the Aerohive system basically runs itself. We have auto-upgrade enabled and the new updates get installed without us having to really do anything. We do verify that things are good after an update, but we typically don't have to take any action.

We have had no issues with scalability. The WIFI planning tool is a great asset for us. We evaluate the coverage and then add APs as needed to cover dead spots or add new areas of coverage.

The customer service has been great. We had a few questions when configuring Radius. When we explained what we were trying to accomplish, they advised us of several different options, discussed the pros/cons of each and helped us set a path forward.

The technical support has been great. We had a few questions when configuring Radius. When we explained what we were trying to accomplish, they advised us of several different options, discussed the pros/cons of each and helped us set a path forward.

We previously used Ubiquiti networks. The solution connected several buildings across our 32 acre campus. The signal strength was pretty good, even though it dropped off in a relatively short distance. However, the system was not robust and failed easily under load.

We actually used a vendor to complete the initial setup. Based on what I've seen, it doesn't look very complicated. All of the changes we made afterwards were pretty straightforward.

We used a vendor for the initial implementation. From what I've heard, the vendor is quite skilled with Aerohive. We were able to verify with several companies who used their services and were satisfied.

Hard to measure our ROI. With our previous Ubiquiti system, there was no ROI. The WIFI was up until you needed to use it and then it was overloaded and non-functional. Now, the Aerohive just works all of the time.

Our APs were around $630 per unit. We did have to purchase HiveManager licenses for each AP at around $110 per AP. This price is low considering we have had no issues with the system.

Yes, we evaluated Cisco, Cisco Meraki, Ubiquiti, and Ruckus. We found that Aerohive performed the best and most consistently across campus.

I would recommend Aerohive to anyone seeking a robust cloud-based WIFI system. We have been pleased with the product features, reliability, and their technical support.

We use ExtremeCloud IQ as a solution for enterprises.

What I like best about ExtremeCloud IQ is its ease of use. It's also the best solution for distribution networks, for example, if you have many branches or offices in various countries. I also like that ExtremeCloud IQ is compatible with WinG, a legacy solution with broad uses.

Flexibility is another pro of ExtremeCloud IQ.

I also find ExtremeCloud IQ feature-rich. For example, it can map user traffic to different VLANs based on the user profile. It also offers switches helpful for enterprise customers, especially when you have different end devices and want to split up the traffic or do a segmentation.

An area for improvement in ExtremeCloud IQ is its technical support. Support could be better, especially when you need help concerning ExtremeCloud IQ and WinG.

An additional feature I want ExtremeCloud IQ to have is integration with different monitoring systems.

I've worked with ExtremeCloud IQ for about one year, not very long.

ExtremeCloud IQ is a ten out of ten for me, stability-wise, because I didn't experience any issues.

ExtremeCloud IQ is very scalable. It's the most scalable solution I know. It may have the same level of scalability as Mist AI from Juniper and Aerohive from Ruckus Wireless.

The technical support for ExtremeCloud IQ needs some improvement, so I'd rate it three out of five.

Setting up ExtremeCloud IQ is a straightforward process.

As I'm part of the technical team, I have no idea how much ExtremeCloud IQ costs.

I've evaluated Mist AI. I'm using it at the same time I'm using ExtremeCloud IQ.

Which solution I prefer is a complex question because it depends on the requirements. For example, you may have a campus system or a small-scale system, or you may have a distributed system. ExtremeCloud IQ is a good solution if you have a large or distributed system.

Your security policy could also affect what solution would be best for you. There's a big security gap in ExtremeCloud IQ because access points talk to the internet directly, and in some cases, that's not allowed because of the security policy.

I'm working with ExtremeCloud IQ and Mist AI.

I cannot say that ExtremeCloud IQ is the best of the best, but nine out of ten is a good score for the solution.

My company is a partner and reseller of ExtremeCloud IQ.

We're using the latest version. It's deployed on a public cloud. We can get our management interface from the internet, from anywhere.

There are 2,000 people who use this solution in my organization, but we haven't finished the setup yet. Our users are mostly students.

It's extremely easy to deploy. Even our access points are behind the net, not using real, public IP. We can easily add to the cloud. For deployment, we just need to let the access point take the DSCP from IP and then, even if it's not a requirement, we can see the serial number from the access points and add the serial number to the cloud directly. 

The manageability is also good. We can create some places in the management interface, like different buildings (building A, building B, etc.) and floors. 

From our network, I can connect and do the deployments from anywhere.

The dashboard and stability need to be improved. We deployed some buildings and nearly 200 access points. 

We didn't install the access points for the buildings, so it would be nice for us to see which access point goes to which switch port. For example, it would be nice to know where a switch with a faulty access point is located.

The company didn't document it well, so it's like a discovery process. When there's a problem with the wireless signal, we don't know which access point is causing it. We need to go and see the access point lights. It's like the white LED is not blinking or not stable. It would be nice for us to be able to document the exact location of the access points.

I need to see the license because there are many features that are disabled for now because we are still using the essential license. Many features require the Pilot license.

I have been using this solution for about nine months.

It's not stable. I watched many videos. I thought I made some mistakes with deployment. I needed to isolate the access points management. In the beginning, it's like the data and access points were in the same zone. I watched some video that said not to do that, so I built a test environment and put the access points in that environment, but nothing changed. Hopefully, it's because we don't have the right license.

When we did the speed test, it's 500 or 600. We don't have the Pilot license, so we weren't expecting more than 150 megabits. Sometimes it's 105 megabits.

It's scalable. You can get the serial number and enter from the Extreme portals. We get serial numbers from the product, enter it in the website, and create zones, buildings, areas.

I didn't get the chance to directly communicate with Extreme like with Cisco, but it's okay. The company is helpful, but unfortunately, not like Cisco. They don't have too many engineers, so it was hard to get a response.

At this point, I don't ask for help too often. I did my research by myself. They have certification, but they don't have documents for the certification like in Cisco. With Cisco, I can get wireless certification documents from Amazon or even Cisco Press. I can pay and get the information from the internet, blogs, and the Cisco website.

In our country, many universities and companies use Extreme products, but this cloud solution is very new for us. I don't have friends who I can ask about a performance problem or how to design a network. Cisco is everywhere, but Extreme isn't.

Initial setup isn't complex. 

We opened a new email account with Extreme Portal and got a new account, like in the technical university. I entered my email address, set up a password, and that was all. We have an essential license actually, which is a limited license, but it was super easy.

Extreme is twice as cheap compared to Cisco due to the currency exchange. Normally, I think Cisco would be a little bit more expensive, but there wouldn't be that much of a difference. 

I would rate this solution six out of ten.

I hope that when we get the license, it will be a nine. 

Cloud Management because of the ease of use and Bonjour Gateway to integrate Apple technology. Cloud management enables me to monitor my wireless network offsite and make required changes.

It has provided us with a fast, reliable wireless network. Aerohive has enabled us to roll out a successful BYOD scheme to 3 year groups to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom.

Additional add-ins such as HiveSchool and MDM are a fantastic idea, however they lack functionality at present. It would be great if teachers could manage their class of BYOD devices using Hive Manager.

4 years, over two different roles.

Nothing major. A batch of wireless access points were recalled due to a hardware issue, however they were replaced very quickly with minimum fuss. I had no other deployment issues, it was a very smooth transition!

I have not experienced issues relating to stability. Aerohive is very stable and has been up for over 2 years without a single fault!

None at all. Aerohive is very scalable due to its pricing and licensing model. It gives the consumer the flexibility to expand their wireless network as and when funding is available. It is great to just be able to buy a new AP, plug it in and off you go!!

Aerohives customer service is second to none. They are extremely helpful and friendly. The company really care about the customers experience with the product. They also run a rewards scheme for loyal customers which is better than any I have come across in my professional career.

Technical support from Aerohive has been excellent. I receive technical support through their third party supplier, LAN3 who are excellent also. I have no doubts if I contact them with an issue, it will be dealt with immediately and to a high standard.

Yes, we used HP wireless previously. Switched for several reasons. 1) The controller was unreliable 2) the wireless network was hard to manage 3) The wireless signal was poor 4) I had used Aerohive previously and loved it 5) The school wanted to do BYOD and I would trust no one else with this important task!

Initial setup was straight forward. The GUI is easy to navigate and I was familiar with it as I have been on Aerohive training. Easy to follow wizard for basic setup.

Through a vendor team, LAN3 Ltd. They have been excellent from sales through to technical support. I have attended two training sessions at LAN3 on Aerohive and I found the sessions to be both informative and enjoyable. Support for Aerohive is impeccable.

Secondary School Education. I have worked in the industry for 10 years and have knowledge of various educational software packages, as well as corporate networking and infrastructure.

Pricing of Aerohive Access Points are reasonable. They provide educational discount as well as BOGOF offers when buying in bulk. Licensing is straightforward, 1, 3 or 5 year license per access point. Included in that price is cloud management for that access point.

Yes, I looked at several other options. These included ARUBA, RUKUS, MERU and MIRAKI. None of these solutions came close to Aerohives offering in terms of cloud management and ease of use.

Aerohive is hands down the best wireless network provider I have used. Their products are affordable, realisable and packed with features! The company is excellent in all areas and it is apparent they are about their customers experiences.

We do training here, so we have several people coming into our system, and they're logging in with their phone or PC. ExtremeCloud IQ gives us some control, which our admin considers crucial.

The tech who handles Extreme IQ tells me it's easy to use and learn. He felt like it was pretty intuitive. It comes with solid training materials.  He also has talked about the security features that give you as much or as little control as you want. 

This is my third year at the education co-op, but they were using it before I joined. I believe that they have been using ExtremeCloud for four years. I'm not the technical person managing the solution.

I had some experience with Extreme Networks equipment when I was the superintendent of a school district, and It was always great. We never had any problems. We may have had an issue with a switch here or there, but they always came in and swapped it out.

Our tech guy has always said that tech support is Extreme Networks' strength. They respond quickly and provide excellent assistance when needed. If necessary, they'll have a person on-site. 

I don't know if it's the reseller or Extreme Networks, but one thing I consistently hear about is the customer support. I'm sure I could probably pay a little bit less with another vendor, but I'm not sure I would get the same level of support.

They used Aerohive.

I haven't done an in-depth analysis, but I think it's competitive. I couldn't tell you if it's the cheapest, but I have no reason to believe that it's out of line with the prices on the market. If you ask the superintendent of a co-op if the price of a product could be better, the answer will always be "yes." 

You get what you pay for. In my experience, you want to ensure you're buying something of reputable quality, and you have a duty to pay a reasonable price when you're spending public funds. There are other considerations, too. How long is it going to last? Are you going to have ongoing support? Is that support going to be delivered in a timely manner?

When they put out an RFP for the last project where we purchased some Extreme Networks products, it listed certain specs we were looking for. Some solutions met those specifications exactly or better than Extreme. One vendor who responded told us that they didn't think we needed that level we requested. They specified less, and their price was less, so I had to go into a detailed analysis to show whether they did or did not meet the requirements of the RFP.

One of the things I learned in that process is that it's hard for a layman like me to tell whether I'm comparing apples to apples. It would be nice if a person in my position could compare an Extreme switch and switches from Aruba or another company, but that was a challenge for me. That's why I'm hesitant to compare solutions and pricing. I might be comparing a Chevrolet to a BMW, for all I know.

I rate ExtremeCloud IQ 10 out of 10. I have no complaints. It's a high-end solution. I've worked with three technology coordinators, and I've never heard any of them say something negative about Extreme Networks equipment.

30,000 sq ft manufacturing and admin facility, three stories with three distinct networks- production, guest, and barcode scanners so voice/data, guest, and IoT.

• Reliable WiFi across each floor.
• Segmented networks.
• VLANs for security.
• Much better environment for our users.
• We have been able to physically and virtually separate IoT, voice, and data.

• HiveManager is incredibly useful for managing APs and switches from one cloud interface.
• It is simple to onboard new devices, and update policies across all devices.
• Great dashboard: visibility into status and use is crystal clear; easy to navigate.
• Support has been great as well.

Need port aggregation on the 2384 switches to take full advantage of ac on the APs. I understand that is on their product road map.

The Aerohive access points have dual 1GB Ethernet ports for aggregation, which enables full 2.6Gbps data. Right now our partner through Aerohive support is telling us that the Aerohive switches currently don’t support port aggregation so we only are using one Ethernet port at the AP’s.

At this point in time, it’s not an issue, and have been told that port aggregation will be available on the Aerohive switches. That’s important to me- as the demands on our network grow we will need to get the full bandwidth out of the Aerohive AP’s.

When I researched the purchase the benefit of managing the switches and AP’s in one interface, and the ability to single source network infrastructure, including installation and management, outweighed the decreased data rate. So, I’m looking forward to this being available soon. That’s the best information I have on this at this time, hope it helps.

None, zero. It runs like the proverbial top. No stability issues, whatsoever. We have good, clean power to the switches and as it is a new building, our infrastructure is brand-new. Update in October of 2018- still completely satisfied with Aerohive switches and AP's. Performance has been perfect, I appreciate the updates and enhancements to the HiveManager and am in that almost every day for the reporting. I truly appreciate working with a company that takes innovation seriously and continuously improves the UI and UX. I would definitely buy again.

We have not encountered any scalability issues; nice to add devices with just a serial number and have them pick up the entire policy. HiveManager works well for monitoring, maintenance, and scaling.

Customer Service:

Customer service is excellent. From RFQ through deployment and hand off to support, we have been completely supported by sales, engineering, and technical staff.

Technical Support:

Technical support is outstanding: responsive, fast phone pickup, helpful, survey every time, been great. They have been right, and right there, when I call. Now that we're past implementation and stable I haven't had to call- product is great.

Update in May of 2018- we have another year of solid Aerohive performance and remain a completely satisfied customer. We invested in a survey to update our power and channel output as the building environment changed- new industrial equipment, and focus on coverage areas as people changed- and made only minor adjustments. System continues to perform as expected, and Aerohive support remains solid. 

Have used Netgear, Cisco, and others. I saw the APs demonstrated and HiveManager, and went with them for the quality of the product and the ability to manage everything from one cloud-based interface.

Initial setup was fairly complex as we had several VLANs with different security and operational requirements. We also had a 10GB aggregation to our SonicWALL and everything went great.

It was implemented by both an in-house team and a vendor team. The vendor team was on-time, thorough, on-budget, knowledgeable, responsive, and thoroughly professional. We got some help from Aerohive support as well.

• Solid WiFi
• Ease of management
• Ability to upgrade the whole system and stay on top of the network.

A big ROI for us is managing the segments to keep voice and data physically and virtually separate, along with the ongoing expansion of IoT devices. Update October 2018- we have added some IoT networks and managing them through the HiveManager has been simple and secure and keeps IoT and our data network separate.

Value is there. There are probably cheaper solutions but we invest for stability and performance for the longer haul. Features and support are a big part of our purchase decisions.

Before choosing this product, we evaluated Extreme Networks for the switches; excellent but would have required additional management and expertise. I looked again at Netgear but went with Aerohive for the reasons I've mentioned, and HiveManager.

I believe Aerohive is committed to being a leader in this space and that their APs for the enterprise campus are the best available. I would like to see port aggregation on the switches but have been told that's on the roadmap, and that's acceptable at this time. HiveManager make the whole process of configuration and management of the network so much easier. I'm a fan.