- Extreme Networks is enhancing its AI networking platform by integrating Intel-connected device data
- The goal is to be able to gather data from not just the network, but the devices connected to it
- It's "likely" more partnerships like this will materialize, Extreme SVP Dan DeBacker told Fierce Network
Extreme Networks is aiming to make its network artificial intelligence (AI) solution smarter by plugging it into Intel's device data pipeline, the pair announced this week. But experts told us this probably isn't a one-off kind of arrangement. To feed data-hungry AI models, partnerships like the one between Intel and Extreme are likely to become much more common.
The alliance will allow Extreme's new AI Expert to incorporate connected Intel device data when making recommendations to optimize network performance, design and deployment. Essentially, Extreme's generative AI (GenAI) will be able to gather data from not just the network, but the devices connected to the network, too.
That wider swath of data will boost Extreme's GenAI capabilities in increasingly complicated networks. And its partnership with Intel could be a foretaste of things to come as players in the AI realm jockey for leadership and differentiation opportunities.
"As more devices get connected, the more important collaborations like these are," said Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research.
It’s an “important announcement,” according to Kerravala, whose research has shown that the network is growing in both importance and complexity. The unique aspect of the partnership is the ability to pull data from connected endpoints, he added, when "most" of the other competitive offerings on the market look at network data only.
A more comprehensive view into the network will benefit IT leaders across industries, especially those with unpredictable traffic patterns, Kerravala said. Hospitality, travel, sports and entertainment all have highly dynamic users which can introduce an element of “randomness," he added.
AI's data feeding frenzy
As more companies across industries look to AI as a way to better understand their sprawling networks, it’s "likely" that more partnerships like this will materialize, Dan DeBacker, SVP of product management, told Fierce Network.
“GenAI solutions are only as powerful as the data sets they have to pull from,” DeBacker added. Feeding GenAI more data, from more sources, will make them "smarter and ultimately delivers a better experience for customers and end-users."
However, partnerships in the fledgling world of AI will likely not be without their challenges.
Among them, determining ownership of data, Kerravala said. In the case of Intel and Extreme, both companies might “want the data to help it with [their] domain,” he explained.
“Long term, there may be some cases where one or the other party wants to keep the data proprietary," Kerravala said. "That doesn’t appear to be the case at the outset. As long as both sides are getting equal value, there shouldn’t be any issues.”
And of course, with data ownership comes a security question.
DeBacker told Fierce that Extreme is “very aware of and sensitive to data privacy for our customers and partners.”
“Adhering to GDPR and similar requirements is paramount in the solutions we offer,” he said. “Extreme’s cloud and AI architecture is such that there is no sensitive customer data that is shared between customers. All AI-driven insights are based on the customer’s own environment and data.”
Extreme AI Expert will open up later this year, when DeBacker said customers and partners will “help mature the AI models and be able to provide feedback directly to continuously improve the platform.”