Managing simplicity amidst diversity

Extreme Networks, founded in 1996, is a California-based, publicly-listed company that designs, builds, and installs sophisticated Ethernet solutions for network connectivity and IP-based communications. The company started its India operations in 2005 with regional sales offices in Delhi, NCR, Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Throughout its history, the company has delivered more than 15 mn Ethernet ports and has established its presence in over 50 countries. It increases the value of the network with its advanced software platforms that deliver meaningful insight and control to applications and services. Extreme Networks addresses a wide range of customers with wired and wireless network infrastructures, from corporate enterprises such as manufacturers, retailers, financial institutions, utilities and healthcare organizations, to large universities and K-12 school districts to federal and local governments worldwide.

Spanning its gamut across IP telephony, security and wireless solutions, the company has a well defined hierarchy in place to address its operations in APAC out of which, India comprises a major growing zone. On top of the command is Nicky Choo, who is the director of APAC-channel and alliances, based out of Singapore, followed by Jitendra Gupta heading Indian operations as the country manager. Gupta is responsible for sales, marketing, channel and alliances. Further down, there are 3 zones in India, each under 3 regional channel managers; Darpan Seth for the North and East India, Prasad Patwari for West India and Asiq Mohamed for South India. In terms of business units, the company has two broad categories; the wired division comprising mainly of Ethernet LAN switches and a wireless business unit.

Under switching products, core and aggregation switching solutions scale to solve tough voice and security challenges with high availability, crystal clarity, and integrated security features. Edge switching solutions provide a powerful portfolio to support everything from basic connectivity to advanced, high-speed services for demanding desktop applications. Over the port extenders front, the company enables the Ethernet network to be scaled to support conference rooms, small work groups and other applications without the high costs of management, deployment and maintenance for the network operator. For its second business unit, ie wireless range, the company has scalable wireless LAN solutions for small to medium to large enter­prises. Extreme Networks wireless solutions offer world class capabilities including comprehensive network-wide security, enterprise grade voice services and unified policies and services across wired and wireless networks. We enable enterprise customers to reduce the complexity for wireless network deployment and management.

With 2 national distributors; Westcon India and Virtual Netcomm, the company has a well-specified range of channel partners. Following a multi-tier model, the company has classified its partners under 4 categories. Atop the table are the Diamond Partners, whereby a sales revenue target is listed for the channels to reach the criteria. This level is closely followed by the Platinum Partners who feature as national and regional resellers possessing the necessary resources, skills and assets to cater to the enterprise segment. With a clear focus over the enterprise customers, Extreme Networks has placed its Gold Partners just below the Platinum counterpart, where both regional as well as national value-added resellers cater primarily to the enterprise segment. With SMB featuring as a lesser priority for the company, the Silver Partners cate­ring to this segment have been placed at the bottom.

The company also has a certification course, Extreme Networks Channel Partner Program (ENCPP), which is targeted as a tool that can help consolidate the brand as well as increase business and revenues. The multi-tiered and sales-oriented partner program allows its channel partners to determine where (vertical) their organization best fits.

However, on the technical front, Extreme Networks has a dual set of program in place. The first is the Extreme Networks Associate (ENA) Certification Program, which establishes the foundation for all Extreme Networks certification programs. The ENA certification confirms the knowledge of the Extreme Networks product portfolio and configuring and managing Extreme Networks switches in layer-2 and layer-3 environ­ments. The certification is intended for individuals, responsible for the installation, configuration, and management of Extreme Networks products. The training and certification program is available online.

For the second part, the certification list is comprehensive. Extreme Networks Specialist (ENS) Certification represents a solid foundation of net­working skills for individuals responsible for advanced confi­guring, managing, maintai­ning, and trouble­shooting of Extreme Networks products. The pre-requisite for this certification is comple­tion of the ENA certification. ENS certified skills include configuration of advanced redundancy features, multicast routing fea­tures, switching in complex routing environ­ments, traffic engineering and security and troubleshooting for switches for layer-2 and layer-3 networ­king problems. The ENS certification is valid for 2 years. The proctor-led ENS exam is a 4-hour hands-on exam typically performed at one of the authorized test centers. The exam is comprised of four parts. One part consists of multiple choice questions. The other three parts consist of hands-on practical exams. Candidates must achieve a score of 75% to be certified.

The online ENS initial exam contains 50 rando­mized, multiple-choice questions and 63 hands-on/fill-in-the blank questions. There is a maximum time limit of 4 hours. This option is only available in the North America and APAC regions. The online ENS recertifi­cation exam contains 65 randomized, multiple-choice questions. There is a maximum time limit of 2 hours.

Successful candidates receive an ENS certificate with a unique certification number immediately upon passing the exam from an ATP. For the successful completion of the online exams, the candidate will receive their score and unique certification number; however the certificate will arrive later by mail. Besides the extensive list of a solo sales training program under several sub-heads and 2 distinct technical certification courses, the company also has a well-defined Return Material Authorization (RMA) policy in place.