ExtremeSwitching Reviews

My current company uses Cisco routers and ExtremeSwitching switches. 

ExtremeSwitching switches are highly reliable. 

ExtremeSwitching switches are not prevalent in the industry, so it's harder to go online and research how to deploy their APs or switches. There is a broader user community for Cisco and Juniper because they've been around for a while and everybody has a bit of knowledge they can publish online.

I rate ExtremeSwitching support eight out of 10. They did the job, but I couldn't say it was the best support because I never did a call. It was by email. I had to open one case to get information about scanning the devices with more vulnerabilities and versions 

Positive

Setting up ExtremeSwitching is relatively straightforward if you have some experience. You can do it with some help from online sources and probably don't need tech support to set it up.

I rate ExtremeSwitching eight out of 10 because of the reliability factor.

We deploy the switches in a spine and leaf model, which is the current requirement. Earlier, we used to have a tier three model, like core distribution and access tier. Now, in the database center, we don't do this. 

We connected all our servers to the leaf and read out to the traffic via the spine. And we enable EMVPN and LT routing on that switches. All meshed networks we configure with seamless connectivity to ISO. 

We have a target market or small and medium-sized businesses. ExtremeSwitches is the perfect match for them. I will go and recommend ExtremeSwitches due to its cost-effectiveness. A small or medium business probably doesn't have the capital of a large-scale industry. Their net worth or turn turnover would be less than high capital gain companies like Apple or Google. ExtremeSwitches is the best solution for small or medium businesses in terms of cost-effectiveness and scalability. 

That said, if a company doesn't want to compromise security features and performance, then Cisco is better.

It is meeting our expectations in terms of performance as well as cost-effectiveness.

The product is scalable.

In terms of support, they could be better. 

They need to enhance their vulnerability assessment and security features. 

There are latency issues that need to be addressed. 

I've been using this and related solutions for about 16 years. 

The performance is good. 

That said, quite often, the solution can crash. It is not meant for a large-scale business. It is meant for only small or medium businesses. There is some room for improvement required in the convergence time of the switch. Whenever we see the premise, there are certain protocols that go down at convergence. 

There are so many clusters in the backend that failover. Sometimes we see the database crash. It could be a bit more reliable; however, it is fine for smaller businesses. 

The solution scales quite well and quite easily.

We have had almost 2,000 users on the solution. 

When I see the tech engineers, they join the calls whenever there is any performance issue. Whenever there is an RMA required to replace the switches, they don't commit to the timelines.

Also, the support is not straightforward. There are so many processes in between. They lack responsiveness. Whenever we open a priority one case, they don't respond quickly at all.

If there is an outage, we don't have any options. Sometimes we feel embarrassed providing support to our business. In contrast, I don't see any issue in the support model of Cisco. They are timely and respond fast. Everything is on time, actually. Even RMA delivery, if we are enrolled with their smart support, they can deliver the product within four hours, which is quite good actually. In terms of the support model, ExtremeSwitches is lagging.

Neutral

I've been in this industry for about 16 years, so I've had the chance to work with multiple vendors and technologies. Other than ExtremeSwitches, most of the time, I worked on Cisco technologies or Brocade. 

We deployed the switches in a spine and leaf architecture-based model.

It's pretty straightforward in terms of configuration. The complexity comes into the picture when you are looking for robustness in the network. If it's a simple network, it's simple to deploy, however, with the advent of new technologies and with the advent of a low latency network and so many protocols and so many features being introduced, it can get complex. It all depends on what kind of business you are working with and how many features you want to enable in that particular switch.

The complexity comes when you enable many features in your switches or your environment. If you are working for Apple, they definitely look for security features. If you are working for a small or medium business, they will look for a cost-effective solution. 

We have a team of eight people that can handle deployment and maintenance tasks. They have been able to extend support to businesses.

We handle the initial setup. We do not outsource the tasks. Whenever we do any configuration changes and deployment altogether, we are the one who is responsible for making decisions and deploying the solution on the ground.

We have seen an ROI in terms of using the solution. I'd rate the ROI potential at a three out of five. 

The solution is very cost-effective. It's not overly expensive at all. 

If you are an SMB and looking for the most cost-effective solution, then you should definitely go for ExtremeSwitches. However, if you are not ready to compromise with the performance, then don't use it. Cisco or Brocade is much better in that regard; however, it also comes at a price. 

Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

ExtremeSwitching is a good, stable platform. There is no comparison between Cisco Nexus Flex and ExtremeSwitching. Cisco Access uses a standard model of the Flex content, which comes with the Cisco model for 96 ports and Fortinet support. We compared Cisco Nexus with Flex connectivity to extend the server connectivity with the 96 and FortiG uplink ports. The cost for Cisco was too high, so we were trying to go with some other models. First, the configuration part and all other content are readily available online. Second, there is no issue with the hardware and performance because many Flex switches, including older models, are still working. Specifically, Flex switches with serial numbers 5548 and 5596 are outdated but still working. We must replace these switches with 9000 or 9300 series switches of the same capacity.

Experiences with ExtremeSwitching depend on the customer. It keeps changing, but it has a high capacity, with more throughput and more ports for data centers. For regular customers, it is extremely good. We must go with increased capabilities and throughput for SMEs and data centers.

I have used ExtremeSwitching for five or ten years back.

The product is stable.

ExtremeSwitching is scalable to a certain extent for SME-segmented IP. In India, people mostly choose Cisco for data center networks, but ExtremeSwitching is a good option for SME-segmented IP networks.

The technical support is good.

Neutral

The initial setup is good. We have already configured ExtremeSwitching for many customers.

ExtremeSwitching is good, stable, and reliable. However, a few customers here use it for four to five years without any issues. There is no downtime, no breakage, and nothing else. The hardware is suitable. The configuration part is different if you compare it to other products. Many companies use score-based content, and ExtremeSwitching has a different command line type. If you can find out how to configure it, you can use it. Overall, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten.

We use the solution as a switch. It is deployed on the hardware. It's a hardware box. 

We generally use it to connect to our systems and also connect to our users. That means it opens connections between the systems and the users. Of course, they also connect to the internet, connect to the printer, et cetera.

So far it is working quite well. It doesn't give us problems.  

The solution is stable.

If you plan, you can scale the product.

Our vendors are great and they offer very good support services. 

This pricing was pretty reasonable when we originally purchased the solution. 

Sometimes there are some issues with the hardware, however, it is not very considerable. 

We noticed over the years that the price of the Extreme Switches has been rising and this will become a concern in the future. Down the road, when I'm going to upgrade, when I purchase new Extreme Switches to refresh my current aging ones (which are already seven years plus old already), I'm worried about the pricing. It may require us to look into another product. Extreme should keep more to the pricing that is on a competitive level.

While technical support is okay, it could always be a bit better.

We would like to see better monitoring in the future. We'd like to see, for example, the ports that are having a lot of heavy traffic. We'd like to identify sources as well or identify what is the application currently running through that particular port on the switches.

The GUI could be better.

I've been using the solution for about seven or so years. 

Stability-wise, so far we have had no issue. We have been quite satisfied with it. When we changed to Extreme, it was due to the fact that Cisco was expensive. This has been a good, reliable replacement.

It is scalable, however, you have to design for it. It's best to do some planning and to understand how many people you will add in the time you will use the switch. Right now, we are quite small and have about 500 connections. 

We get technical support from our vendor and they are pretty good overall. Of course, they could always be better.

Neutral

We've used Cisco and 3Com in the past. I used Cisco eight or nine years ago, so it's been a while since I've actually used it. 

Normally we engage together to work together with a vendor and so far, I haven't seen many problems. We already have it set up and running. Even with the upgrade to the next newer one, we can have the two configurations imported back in from there. Even if we can't import it, from the configuration, we will be able to set it up on the new ones. It will be easy.

We had assistance from vendors when we were setting up the solution. They were very knowledgeable and experienced. 

We noticed an ROI after five years. Some might notice it after seven.

The pricing keeps going up and that is worrying us for when we need to upgrade in the future. Our concern is we will not be able to afford it. 

We are customers and end-users.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. If it came with more features out-of-the-box, I'd rate it a bit higher. 

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.

I use the solution in areas related to the education sector, hospitality, and hotel industries. It is also useful for many general purposes. There are multiple use cases attached to ExtremeSwitching.

The solution's most valuable feature revolves around cloud management. The tool's capacity is high because it offers switches with 740 W over 24-port models. The tool's aforementioned main key feature makes it a usable tool for many businesses.

The pricing of the universal switches is an area of concern that needs to be improved. I am really satisfied with the switches, so I don't have any comments about what needs to be enhanced in the tool.

Though the product is scalable, there needs to be some enhancements in the product since there are multiple areas with inconsistent software.

The solution's technical support needs improvements. Sometimes, the technical support team takes a day to offer a solution to our company's queries. Fixing problems with the help of the support team is really complex.

There can be improvements in the product's pricing model.

I have been using ExtremeSwitching for two years. I am a reseller of the tool.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It is a scalable solution.

I deal with 11 customers of the tool.

I have experience with products like Ruckus and tools from plenty of other vendors.

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward, and it depends on the application. For some applications, it is complex, while for other applications, it is easy, meaning it all depends on the application and in which scenario we are installing the devices.

The first method is to manually configure the switches. The second way is to onboard the switches to the cloud platform, like ExtremeCloud IQ, and then manage it from the cloud. Cloud onboarding is easy and straightforward, and it can manage updates or configure all the switches from just a single dashboard.

The solution is deployed on the cloud or on an on-premises model. For the on-prem version, the tool offers very limited features and management ability. Lately, the product has been focusing on the cloud solution. I am not really satisfied with the tool's on-prem solution.

The product is expensive.

I recommend that others carefully select the model of the product, and they need to consider it by taking into account the solution's releases.

In terms of the value of benefits added by the product, I would say that the switches can be used to make shifts in many scenarios. The product offers a single management platform for multiple models of switches. The tool also allows users to manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

These are the LAN switches. They are mostly the 440.

These are stable switches. Once we've deployed them, we haven't find any issue in the system configuration and have had no problems.

We can go for other licensing, like iCloud. We can control it remotely. 

The simple configuration has been great. 

The switches are fast. What they mention in their specs is not like Huawei or other switches. Its flexibility and scalability are excellent.

The solution offers reasonable licensing fees. 

Technical support is good, although I haven't really used it.

They should have proprietary protocols, like UTP or Cisco protocol VTP. If that was available, that would be ideal. That way, users can just configure and go. We could configure one switch as a server, and it should push the configuration on all of the switches. This would be good and bad as Extreme does not recommend this configuration. 

Their pricing could be a bit cheaper, as Huawei switches offer better pricing. 

The delivery time right now is too long. 

In the WiFi system, there are some systems where we cannot access the WiFi devices, controllers, et cetera. Some of our customers, after one year, need us to contact Extreme, and I have to delete the software from the management software. They become a little problematic. And then, if they do need to be replaced, there is a delay in the delivery there as well. 

I've been using the solution for two years. 

The solution is stable. It's reliable. The performance has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. There have been no breakdowns. 

I supply more than 200 systems.

It is very scalable and quite flexible. You can scale it up or down according to your needs. 

Technical support is good. They're responsive. I haven't really had to deal with them that much since the solution has been good. 

I've also worked with Cisco products and they are quite good. Huawei products are something I'm aware of as well and they are less expensive.

It's very easy to set up. On top of that, one can easily configure it.

I'd rate the solution a four out of five in terms of the ease of implementation.

The pricing is fair. It's quite good overall. 

I'd rate it a three or a four out of five in terms of affordability. It's not quite as cheap as, for example, Huawei. However, it's reasonable. 

We have clients that work with this solution. We're a reseller and integrator. 

I'd rate the solution seven 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.