Extreme Networks Entering The Sd-wan Market

Extreme Networks announced its intention to acquire the Ipanema SD-WAN operations of Infovista.  The company expects the deal to close in October 2021 and that in Extreme’s Fiscal 2022, the revenue contribution will be “material.”  We think Extreme’s entry to the SD-WAN market gives the company exposure to a critical part of the networking industry, the wide area network market.  In the past couple years, we’ve seen enterprise customers are demanding a wider range of networking products that will be managed using a “single pane of glass” management system, and with the addition of SD-WAN to Extreme’s portfolio that includes Ethernet Switches and Wireless LAN, Extreme’s customer appeal will grow.

Ipanema is based in France and after the acquisition, almost a quarter of Extreme’s workforce will be Europe based.  Ipanema currently has reseller agreements in place with British Telecom and Orange Business Services and half of its revenues are from the UK and France.  The other half of revenues are from other European countries.  As part of the SD-WAN operations, Ipanema has a relationship with firewall leader, Check Point Software, that allows Ipanema to offer Firewall as a Service (FWaaS).  Over time, Extreme says it plans to address the SASE market, which according to our research is a very high growth opportunity.

Extreme has been acquisitive in the past several years and has been focusing its efforts on offering cloud-managed services as the “glue” that binds its hardware products together.  The plans for Ipanema is that it’ll be integrated into Extreme’s cloud-managed services system as soon as 6-9 months after its acquisition closes.  Extreme also said it will continue to offer SD-WAN as a standalone offering.