Extreme Networks (NASDAQ:EXTR) is positioning its Wi-Fi 7 products, network automation software and expanding data center capabilities to benefit from an enterprise networking upgrade cycle tied to artificial intelligence, higher-bandwidth applications and security needs, according to Stan Kovler, the company’s senior vice president of corporate development and investor relations.
Speaking at an Oppenheimer event, Kovler said customers are increasingly moving to next-generation networking technology, including Wi-Fi 7, which offers greater bandwidth, reliability and more predictable connectivity. He said some customers are upgrading directly from Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5 rather than moving through Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E.
Wi-Fi 7 Demand Driven by Venues, Video and Connected Systems
“Now pretty much everyone is on Wi-Fi at a lot of these events,” Kovler said, citing the need to support users at venues such as large college football stadiums. He said Wi-Fi remains less expensive to deploy than 5G in many venue environments, estimating that Wi-Fi can be three to four times cheaper to deploy than a cell-site-based alternative.
The company is also seeing networking demand expand into locations and applications that historically had less connectivity, including manufacturing facilities, retail checkout systems and airport passenger-processing systems. Kovler pointed to facial recognition, 4K video, factory automation and connected devices as examples of workloads requiring more network capacity and upgraded switching infrastructure.
Security is another driver, particularly in manufacturing and regulated industries. Kovler said Extreme’s fabric technology can create separate virtual networks for individual production lines, potentially helping contain a cyberattack within a limited area rather than allowing it to spread across an organization.
He also cited demand for sovereign-cloud-style deployments, in which government and regulated-industry customers operate management systems in protected environments instead of relying on public cloud infrastructure.
Platform ONE Expands AI Automation Features
Extreme Networks plans to roll out an upgrade to its Extreme Platform ONE software later in the month, Kovler said. The company calls the next-generation capability “Agent ONE,” which is intended to expand the use of AI in network administration.
According to Kovler, the platform initially focused on knowledge-based searches and helping network engineers find information. Future capabilities are expected to provide greater automation, including a “Coworker mode” that can schedule tasks and automate processes. A subsequent offering planned for introduction in October, called “Operator mode,” is designed to address agent-to-agent workflows and more autonomous network operations.
Kovler said the primary near-term productivity benefit should be faster troubleshooting and reduced mean time to resolution. AI can analyze logs and network events in an automated way, potentially allowing IT teams to identify and resolve issues more quickly than through manual processes, he said.
He characterized the economic benefit primarily as cost avoidance rather than immediate workforce reductions. As organizations and their networks grow, automated management tools could reduce the need to add personnel, he said.
Subscription Transition and Data Center Investment
Kovler said Extreme Platform ONE bundles support with AI-driven subscription management capabilities. The bundle represented 30% of the company’s subscription bookings in fiscal 2026 and reached 50% of subscription bookings in the fourth quarter, according to his remarks.
Extreme is transitioning customers from a discrete support model toward a SaaS-oriented subscription model. Kovler said subscriptions accounted for 57% of deferred revenue in the latest quarter. The company aims to move roughly half of its customer base to Extreme Platform ONE by the end of fiscal 2027, compared with approximately 10% at the end of fiscal 2026, and expects to largely complete the transition by fiscal 2028.
He said fiscal 2027 will be a transition year, as the bundling of product lines affects the discrete support revenue line. However, he expects SaaS annual recurring revenue to reaccelerate as subscription revenue is recognized from deferred revenue, with an inflection anticipated toward the end of the fiscal year.
The company is also investing in data center offerings supporting speeds of 400 and 800, Kovler said. He expects enterprises to invest more in on-premises compute and AI workloads over time. Extreme aims to use Platform ONE as a common management layer for both campus networks and future data center switches.
Pricing, Supply and Market-Share Opportunity
Kovler said Extreme expects another year of double-digit product revenue growth and believes it can gain share from larger incumbents. He said aging customer equipment, end-of-life products and competitor product-line transitions may create opportunities, particularly in government and regulated markets where contracts can be reopened for bidding.
The company has raised prices twice during the past year, while some competitors have raised prices more frequently, Kovler said. Extreme is guaranteeing pricing for customers that register interest and deals through October and November, a strategy he said is intended to support orderly purchasing and supply-chain planning rather than encourage a short-term buying surge.
He added that the company has secured memory supply and has visibility into its memory pricing for the year. In certain product lines, he said, competitors are facing longer lead times, which Extreme believes can support additional share gains.
Kovler described current backlog as improving but remaining at “very reasonable levels,” rather than reaching the elevated levels seen during the prior supply-chain-driven cycle. He said the company prefers measured demand growth and is seeking to avoid customers placing orders far in advance of actual delivery needs.
About Extreme Networks (NASDAQ:EXTR)
Extreme Networks, Inc (NASDAQ: EXTR) is a global provider of end-to-end networking solutions designed to support enterprise, data center, and service provider environments. The company’s product portfolio encompasses high-performance wired and wireless access switches, routers, network security appliances, and software-defined networking (SDN) tools. Driven by a cloud-native management architecture, Extreme’s Intelligent Edge Platform integrates network analytics, automation and orchestration capabilities to help organizations optimize performance, reduce operational complexity and strengthen security.
Since its founding in the mid-1990s and subsequent public listing in 1999, Extreme Networks has expanded its technology footprint through targeted acquisitions.
