Image Gallery: Extreme Networks Global Partner Conference
Take that, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE)! During its Global Partner Conference this week in Orlando, Florida, Extreme Networks executives told partners the company is primed more than ever to steal market share from those two rivals.
The conference drew more than 500 of Extreme’s 6,000-plus partners from across the globe. Thanks to acquisitions this year to beef up its portfolio and customer base, Extreme now is the third-largest end-to-end network vendor, with 30,000 customers in 80 countries.
“Going forward, we’ve got all the assets in place to not just compete, but win,” said Bob Gault, Extreme’s chief revenue and services officer. “The only thing that can stop us is us. If we can have a conversation with a customer on a unified solution … there’s no doubt we can win.”
Scroll through our gallery below to see the highlights of this conference.
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Bob Gault, Extreme’s chief revenue and services officer, kicked off the conference, saying a year ago his company’s stock price was $3.50 and it was the No. 13 networking company “and a lot of customers didn’t know where we were going.” Flash-forward to today, and the stock price is $11.42 and it’s now in the No. 3 market position, he said.
Norman Rice III, Extreme’s chief marketing, development and product operations officer, listed 10 things partners can walk away with, such as the company having more than $1 billion in annual revenue, money to invest, and more than 3,000 employees to support partners.
Gordon Mackintosh, Extreme’s senior director of worldwide partner program and sales business development, announced the company’s new unified partner program, combining existing and acquired programs and technologies. The program includes the Partner Hub, a new partner experience that provides a one-stop-shop for marketing leads, deal registration and a global concierge. The program will be available in January.
During a breakout session, partners learned of new opportunities that will be afforded by Extreme’s acquisition of Brocade Communications Systems’ data center networking business, which is expected to close by the end of this week.
Partners are invited to sign up for the new unified partner program in the Partner Pavilion.
ScanSource, which worked with Zebra Technologies, was reintroduced to Extreme after it acquired Zebra’s WLAN business. As an Extreme partner, it has expanded that to include Avaya and legacy Extreme offerings.
Tech Data is one of Extreme’s distribution partners. It invited partners to “harness the strength” of its professional services partnership with Extreme.
At this booth, Extreme invited partners to sign up for its updated Ultimate Warrior Program, which provides incentives for the top 25 partners and will give away a free trip to Iceland. Partners also were encouraged to sign up for Extreme Champions, a partner appreciation program.
Partners and Extreme employees visit during a dinner on the outdoor patio at sunset.
In the Partner Pavilion, partners were given a demonstration of Extreme Fabric Connect, an Ethernet-based fabric that supports layer 2, layer 3 and multicast-based virtualized services.
Paige Powers, Extreme’s senior director of global distribution and inside sales, led a panel discussion on “unlocking the power of distribution” with executives from Arrow ECS ANZ, Tech Data, ScanSource and Jenne.
