Extreme Networks presented its ExtremeCloud Edge designed to ease management of networking application deployments, and a new Wi-Fi 6E access point (AP) it says is the “smallest and greenest” on the market.

ExtremeCloud Edge is a computing platform hosted at the network edge that unifies management of networking applications and enables customers to deploy ExtremeCloud applications. These include its ExtremeCloud IQ, CoPilot and SD-WAN products across the entire cloud spectrum – from public cloud deployments, on-premises data centers, private cloud and the edge.

When organizations started using the cloud, they only expected to manage a single network environment, Extreme's Dan DeBacker explained. Today, that is not the case.

“Most CIOs are managing a network that spans from a public cloud environment to the users at the very edge and with additional layers of technology like fabric and SD-WAN connecting branch sites in between,” DeBacker told SDxCentral. “These environments can be difficult to manage and cloud services can quickly become expensive.”

Today’s scattered enterprise environments have grown reliant on bandwidth-heavy and latency-sensitive applications. The ExtremeCloud Edge aims to ease management and lower cost by providing enterprises with flexibility when it comes to running networking applications, including management analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) from edge locations.

Bringing computing power closer to the user and enabling organizations to manage all cloud deployment types from within a single application helps meet security demands to ensure a sovereign environment, boosts the user experience with high bandwidth and low latency performance and reduces costs often associated with complex cloud deployments, DeBacker said.

“Customers in countries with strict data protection rules previously were unable to take advantage of cloud solutions in order to remain compliant,” he added. The data sovereignty and security delivered through ExtremeCloud Edge ensures those customers can maintain control over their data, enabling them to adopt cloud solutions while maintaining compliance with regional regulations.

ExtremeCloud Edge will be available this summer for select partners and the vendor’s entire application portfolio will be generally available to all customers in early 2024. The company also plans to expand support to its partner ecosystem.

The vendor also introduced its AP3000 product, touting it as the industry’s “smallest, most power-efficient” Wi-Fi 6E AP.

The product is designed to optimize performance using 13.9 watts of power. It is available in two form factors through the Extreme Fabric: a 2x2:2 dual radio and the option for external antennas with an extended temperature range.

Extreme claims the AP enables enterprises to automate onboarding and provisioning and take advantage of hyper-segmentation to boost network security. It's also part of the vendor’s Universal Platforms portfolio that allows customers more deployment and management flexibility, Debacker said.

“If we've learned anything over the past few years it's that you need to be prepared for anything. With our Universal Platforms, the network and hardware can evolve and grow alongside our customers' changing needs,” he added. This means organizations can change their operating system as necessary, extending the life of their hardware investments and eliminating the need to rip and replace.

Most end-user devices do not yet support the Wi-Fi 6E 6 GHz spectrum, but DeBacker said the vendor expects they “will be soon.”

“New Wi-Fi 6E-capable devices are available now from most major consumer vendors, and as with previous generations of Wi-Fi, consumer adoption will drive Wi-Fi 6E demand in the enterprise,” he said.

Organizations with mission-critical devices like hospitals with connected MRI machines or school districts that are reliant on Wi-Fi for online testing and are already using Wi-Fi 6E to provide dedicated connectivity for specific devices while routing other traffic to the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels, ensuring they can continue to deliver necessary services.

“We will continue to see wider adoption of Wi-Fi 6E as more countries ratify the technology, and customers with Wi-Fi 6E-ready devices like the AP3000 can simply flip a switch to turn on their 6 GHz connectivity once they are permitted to utilize that spectrum,” DeBacker said.