ExtremeManagement Reviews

We have been reselling ExtremeManagement for 13 years.

The reason clients select ExtremeManagement is because we have existing Extreme customers who are looking for a centralized management solution to manage their Extreme Switches. ExtremeManagement is not only for managing Extreme Switches; it can also manage other third-party solutions such as Cisco or Juniper or any other third party. This provides good flexibility for managing even third-party solutions.

ExtremeManagement offers a lot of management options, including the ability to back up the configuration on a scheduled basis and to upgrade the switches' firmwares on a scheduled basis. There is a workflow feature similar to orchestration, which is related to automation.

Regarding threat detection with ExtremeManagement, there is no specific feature, but in case of any failure detection or network issues, ExtremeManagement can send a notification to the users and to the admin.

ExtremeManagement itself does not include a security or cybersecurity feature; however, there is an additional module called ExtremeControl that you can add, which is a network access control or NAC solution.

ExtremeAnalytics is also a very good add-on to ExtremeManagement that can analyze all the traffic coming to the switch for incoming and outgoing traffic. It checks everything even up to Layer 7, the application layer, which I believe maybe some other switches management solutions do not have. This feature is fully compatible with Extreme Switches because the switches can show the application layer traffic.

The reporting capabilities of ExtremeManagement are good, but I cannot say they are perfect. Everybody can read it, but in our region, especially in Saudi Arabia and the Arab universe, some customers are requesting Arabic results, which makes it somewhat challenging for us and the vendor. Not all vendors have that capability, and sometimes the vendor asks for adding a feature request, which may take time. I cannot say this is something negative, but in our region, some customers, especially non-English speakers, require that. In general, reporting is good, though not perfect.

The integration of ExtremeManagement with other Extreme products and third-party solutions is easy. It does not require specific requirements for integration with other third-party switches. However, there are limitations for integration with other third-party products, especially with firewalls from security companies. When it comes to network devices, it is very easy to integrate with.

The reporting part definitely requires improvement.

I would rate the stability of ExtremeManagement at nine out of ten.

Scalability with ExtremeManagement is also a nine out of ten because we have not faced any challenges so far.

I would rate technical support from Extreme as nine out of ten. Nobody is perfect, but it is good because Extreme has its own support team and does not rely on third-party support companies.

Positive

The solution deployment for ExtremeManagement is simple and operates like a wizard, not hard at all.

ExtremeManagement offers both on-premises and cloud-based deployment options, with the cloud now referred to as Extreme Platform One. The on-premises version is called Extreme CloudIQ - Site Engine, which is ExtremeManagement. The on-premises version is easy to deploy and install.

I would rate the pricing of ExtremeManagement as five out of ten; it is somewhat neutral, not cheap and not expensive. I might consider it a four out of ten now due to the global hardware economic crisis, with prices rising every three months. 

If I compare ExtremeManagement to another product, it competes against vendor-based management tools such as Cisco Prime, but honestly, it does not compete well with ExtremeManagement based on customer feedback. As for other competitors, I am not entirely sure, but sometimes we propose products for monitoring rather than management. ExtremeManagement focuses more on management, while competitors such as Progress WhatsUp Gold and PRTG are more into monitoring rather than management.

For end users, there is nothing specific they receive from ExtremeManagement other than saving time, as it is easy to manage all the switches in one GUI. Overall, I believe the GUI has already improved significantly, making it easier to manage than other management tools. The most important thing is that our customers are happy with it. We have not faced any complaints during our implementations, aside from minor technical issues. In general, our customers are happy.

ExtremeManagement brings in the most value by reducing the technical debt to the organization in terms of having to hire personnel to maintain it or contract it.

It would be great to not need an on-premises SiteIQ license for running a Fabric OS cloud or managing third-party devices. I would also like to see the management portion be 100% cloud-based across the entire product line. 

ExtremeManagement is stable. 

ExtremeManagement is scalable. 

The initial ExtremeManagement setup is pretty straightforward. Myself and my network administrator managed to set it up on our own with some guidance, but without outside help.

My network administrator and I deployed ExtremeManagement in-house. 

It is difficult to calculate our return on investment at this point because we do not have enough ExtremeManagement experience yet. However, knowing what I know, I believe our ROI is pretty good because it costs 30% less than Cisco and it takes less to manage it.

The management portal is included in the management licenses for the devices. You have to buy an additional license if you want SiteIQ virtual machine capabilities. 

ExtremeManagement is excellent. It is a very mature platform and robust in that it covers most of the functionality of the devices.

One of ExtremeManagement's advantages over its competitors is that it is capable of managing Cisco switches if you have their on-prem manager. So you can take your legacy Cisco switches and manage them directly in the Extreme platform.

We use it to monitor the performance of the equipment. We use this in order to get the information about whether the performance of the equipment is okay and whether there is some problem that needs to be corrected. Currently, we are using the latest version of Extreme Management Center.

The report model is one of the valuable models. We are able to see all the information concentrated in reports, which is very useful. We are able to get the information about the performance of the equipment and check that everything is okay.

You can get very useful information across applications, so we have very good experience with their management solutions. It has many functionalities to simplify the administration and monitor the development of the switches or AP.

It is easy to deploy, easy to configure. and easy to develop. Its price is also good.

They can improve the information period. Currently, we are able to have information for only 14 or 15 days, but we would like to have information for an extended period of maybe 30 days.

Their technical support can also be improved in terms of the response time to the tickets.

I have been using this solution for 15 years.

It is very stable.

It is scalable. In terms of the number of people using this solution in our organization, we are divided into two areas: pre-sales area and post-sales area. In the post-sales area, we have five engineers dedicated to developing the proposals for Extreme. In the post-sales area, we have maybe 15 engineers who are designing it to deploy the projects.

Usually, their technical support is good. Sometimes, they take more time than expected to respond to tickets, which can be improved.

Its initial setup is very easy. It doesn't take more than a couple of hours. It is very fast to implement, but it also depends on the experience of the engineer who is in charge of doing the implementation or configuration.

It has a good price. There is a good relationship between the cost and the performance.

It is a good solution. Our experience has been good. It is easy to deploy, configure, and develop, and its performance is good. In general, we are satisfied with Extreme. 

Extreme is a good vendor. They have been doing well for the last three years. They are trying to develop new solutions. They have an interesting new cloud solution, which is able to give our customers complete functionality and good performance at a good price.

I would rate ExtremeManagement a nine out of ten.

There could be better integration with third-party equipment and vendors. While ExtremeManagement technically supports monitoring various devices like firewalls, the integration may not be as seamless. It could result in additional expenses and complexities for users, especially when dealing with older vendor systems. Therefore, this particular area needs improvement. 

We have been using ExtremeManagement since 2002.

We haven't encountered any major stability issues with ExtremeManagement. The only notable problem arose when a customer was using an older version, which caused some issues. However, after upgrading to a newer version, the stability improved significantly, and the problem was resolved.

Regarding adaptability to network growth, I rate it around eight or nine out of ten. Adding new users or devices is straightforward as the system automatically discovers and integrates them. However, one consideration is the licensing structure, which is typically based on batch increments of users. It can sometimes result in larger licensing than necessary, leading to potential overpayment for features not currently required. Additionally, it is well-suited for medium to enterprise-level companies.

The technical support services are good. Occasionally, issues related to licensing or administration may require direct engagement with the customer.

The initial setup process was straightforward. Since it's cloud-based, the setup mainly involved registering the devices, which was simplified by its configuration mode. Clients could handle the technicalities themselves, but they often preferred our assistance.

I don't know the exact pricing or licensing details. However, based on feedback from our customers, they haven't raised significant complaints about the cost. While they don't consider it affordable, they don't find it overly expensive.

One of ExtremeManagement's notable advantages is its compatibility with non-Extreme equipment, allowing for comprehensive network management across various brands and devices. It simplifies network management tasks, even in heterogeneous environments. Additionally, the transition to a cloud-based model offers scalability and flexibility, enabling users to start with a small deployment and expand gradually based on their needs.

It offers a modular design, allowing for the addition of features and capabilities to enhance network performance. Initially serving as a network management system (NMS), users can later seamlessly incorporate analytics and other functionalities. It presents all pertinent information on a single dashboard or screen. Users can easily access comprehensive network insights and drill down for more detailed analysis.

Customers have highlighted the intuitiveness and ease of use of ExtremeManagement compared to other vendors.

I rate it an eight out of ten.

Our primary use for this solution is to manage our Extreme switches. We also assist customers with the integration of this product.

Using this solution has made our job more efficient. We need fewer people to do implementation and support, and we don't have to go on-site to change the configuration or otherwise support the switch. Overall, this solution is very helpful in terms of improving efficiency and reducing costs. 

The most valuable feature is the ability to manage different configurations for different switches. When a configuration is modified, the changes made are logged in history, and we can roll back to a previous version if we need to. The history contains a store of all of the previous configurations.

We can also automate the configuration process. For example, if we have to replace something on a malfunctioning switch then we can put in the serial number and it will continue on its own. We don't need a trained person to be on-site to replace the switch.

When it comes to configuration and management, we can even take care of these tasks remotely.

This solution has support for monitoring switches from other vendors, although the ability to manage them is limited. It would be helpful if this solution had support for configuring and managing third-party hardware devices. This would require cooperation between vendors, but if they are willing then it would improve this product. 

About four years.

I do not recall having any issues with the stability of this product.

This is a very scalable solution.

We have between two and three thousand end users.

Technical support for this solution is very good.

Quite some time ago, we did use other solutions. We could see that this technology was leading edge, without the corresponding costs as compared to the other market leaders.

The initial setup for this solution is straightforward, and it is very easy to use.

The deployment time is dependent more on project management/schedule than the solution itself.

There is no additional staff required in order to maintain this solution. In fact, using this tool reduces the requirement for personnel.

We are an integrator and handle our own deployment. We also handle the implementation of this solution for our customers.

We do realize cost savings with this solution, but we have not made any formal calculations. Financially, this solution makes sense.

The licensing fees are calculated on a per-node basis, which is determined by the number of users. The support is billed on a yearly basis, and there are no additional costs.

This is the default solution for our customers. If it can handle the requirements and the customer is happy then we do not look for other tools. We receive feedback from our clients who have compared products that they have used previously, and they are very happy with this solution.

This is a very good solution that can really help you to manage and reduce your costs. You only need to have one skillset, as opposed to multiple skillsets. It is a very attractive solution from both a technical and a cost standpoint.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

This solution is used generally for network device management, like switches, routers, and other kinds of appliances. We also use it for things like network access control solutions, which are incorporated into this management solution and networking traffic analytic solutions.

It is a combined solution, it's not only used for the device management and configuration but also for things like network control and application analytics.

The best thing about the solution is that it is all managed from just a single application window. We call this feature a single pane of glass due to the fact that almost all the features are all managed within a single application, or a browser, to be more specific. 

You don't have to switch between different applications or between different windows. You have it all in a single window pane. It's all extremely convenient.

You can incorporate the net management features and network access control features into other vendors and manage it all within a single management product.

Some features are quite difficult to configure and they are very complicated to figure out. Maybe the vendors should introduce a more driven configuration that can clarify the processes a bit more to make the processes more clearly defined.

They should think more about incorporating their wireless solutions into this management product, as it's not widely deployed at the moment. They have quite a wide-ranging portfolio of wireless solutions, however, they are not managed well in the current release of management solutions.

I've been using the solution for five years.

The solution is definitely stable. We don't experience crashes. It's reliable. If there are any bugs, they are quickly identified and removed as soon as possbile. All enhancements and new features are well documented in release notes. 

The solution is scalable, I would say even by default, due to the fact that you have different application images that are suitable for small environments or for larger enterprise environments. You have a job prepared for each scenario. I would therefore describe it as extremely scalable.

I have contacted technical support many times. Usually, they are very efficient and they can solve the issue very fast. Even if I call in the evening, they are able to solve most of the issues immediately, during the first call. I've been very satisfied with their level of service.

I've had very little experience with other solutions, and definitely none of them have been studied and worked with as much as I have with this product. This solution really stands out for me for its ease of management and networking aspects.

The solution is neither straightforward nor complex. It's got an intermediate amount of difficulty. You need to know a bit about what you are doing, however, it's not difficult per se.

The time it takes to deploy the solution really depends on how many devices you have, as well as how they are interconnected and how they are configured. For the customer, it takes a couple of days for the whole environment to be implemented.

In terms of pricing, in general, all you have to pay is what is called Xtreme Works or Partner Works. It's a support fee. If you want to have the right to get the updates or to call for support, you have to pay for this kind of service. Otherwise, you're not eligible to download updates and call for global assistance.

We're an Xtreme partner and we sell the solutions to our customers.

I would strongly suggest other companies at least try to use the solution. You can ask any partner of Xtreme to run a demo of this management product. It will give you a good sense of what to expect. One thing that I would mention is that you can operate the solution not only with Xtreme's equipment but with many other vendors like Cisco or HP. It's great.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It's almost perfect as a product. We really enjoy using it.