In the networking world, few industry reports are as recognized or influential as the Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ). Published every 1-2 years, the MQ evaluates vendor solutions and ranks them in one of four quadrants – Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Player.
Widely viewed as the ‘go-to’ report for businesses to consult before embarking on a networking project, the MQ provides insight on current and evolving market requirements, technologies, and key vendors to consider.
Here are five takeaways from the 2020 Gartner Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure report:
Leadership: Extreme is once again honored to be ranked in the Leaders Quadrant. According to Gartner, “Leaders will have the ability to shape the market and provide complete and differentiating access layer applications, as well as global service and support.” This leadership rating is particularly exciting as it is on the heels of another recent recognition for Extreme – in Sept 2020, OMDIA recognized us as the Fastest Growing Cloud Networking Vendor.
Consistency: Being ranked in the coveted Leaders quadrant for three consecutive years is no small feat. It demonstrates consistency in both vision and product execution. In the 2020 MQ, Gartner highlights Extreme’s “broad portfolio of cloud-managed and on-premises managed network applications and services” (ExtremeCloud IQ) and “the differentiation of Fabric Connect” (Extreme Fabric) Gartner also points to our “containerized microservices architecture — which enables deployment in any cloud platform (AWS, GCP, and Azure) or on-premises.”
Relevance: With the pandemic having served as a wake-up call for businesses to modernize their infrastructure, the 2020 MQ has never been more important. The network is the foundation for post Covid-19 operations and businesses need to carefully assess the capabilities they need and evaluate which vendors have the solutions, expertise, and experience to help them transition to the new normal. As 2020 has made abundantly clear, doing nothing is not an option. The 2020 Gartner MQ is a critical resource that businesses can leverage as they plan for the future.
Innovation: The focus of the MQ goes far beyond Wired & WLAN Infrastructure. As Gartner highlights, it is “focused on transformational technologies or approaches delivering on the future needs of end users.” In 2020: cloud, AI/ML, IoT, security, automation, licensing choice, and network services all featured heavily. So too did capabilities that help address post pandemic hybrid workforces, including “increased investment in cloud-based applications such as cloud access network management” and solutions to help safeguard employees as they return to the office.
Dynamic: The speed of digital transformation is faster than ever before (5 years transformation in 8 weeks), and so too is the speed of new product introduction. Gone are the days when products or software releases came out every 6-9 months. Thanks to Cloud DevOps, customers can now benefit from the continuous delivery of innovations, on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. How is this relevant to the 2020 MQ? The point is that the MQ (like any published report) reflects a snapshot in time. In the case of the 2020 MQ, it reflects products and capabilities that were in the market before April 2020. Given the dizzying pace of transformation, the products and capabilities in the market today may be vastly different than those of seven months ago. While the MQ is an invaluable resource, enterprises should be diligent in understanding vendors’ most recent products and capabilities. For example, here at Extreme, there have been significant product enhancements since April 2020, including Unlimited Data, Universal Platform, ExtremeCloud IQ Essentials, and many more – that all tie into Extreme’s Effortless Networking Experiences vision.
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