No longer a mere futuristic concept, artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the engine behind enterprise transformation. As its adoption elevates, however, the AI network is stepping out of its “plumbing” role and emerging as a true enabler of innovation.
In weaving the pathways for enterprise-grade adoption, Extreme Networks Inc.’s vision incorporates a universal, cloud-native, AI-powered network serving as the driver of innovation and accelerator of business value in the emerging digital era.
“I think AI is making networking sexy again,” said Dan DeBacker (pictured), senior vice president of product management at Extreme. “It used to be just the plumbing, and it was a necessary evil, and now it is an enabler. The AI adoption curve is going so fast, and things are changing quickly. Taking AI across the entire infrastructure, what does that really mean? Well, there’s so much data. That data has not really been harvested and brought back in to create information that can help a company make decisions to simplify things, automate things and all those types of activities that AI is now able to drive across the infrastructure.”
DeBacker spoke with theCUBE’s Bob Laliberte at The Networking for AI Summit event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Extreme is helping enterprises build an intelligent, adaptable AI network. (* Disclosure below.)
The AI network underscores shifting patterns in today’s era
With massive amounts of data being generated at the edge, in the data center and across the wide area network, enterprises need networks that do more than carry traffic — they need systems capable of harvesting, analyzing and correlating data in real time. Rather than focusing on siloed AI for wireless or WAN alone, Extreme emphasizes a holistic approach, where AI is integrated throughout the entire network, from the data center to the campus to the branch, according to DeBacker.
“When you look at AI, you do need to look at it from an entire network perspective; you can’t just look in one little area,” he said. “What about the WAN? What about the branch? What about the wired network? What about what happens in the data center? All of these types of things. The pervasiveness of AI is its strength, and so these edge networks become critical in gathering all of that information.”
One of the most striking changes AI is driving is in network traffic flows. Traditional applications, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Salesforce Inc., now share bandwidth with massive volumes of AI data traveling from edge devices back into centralized data centers and clouds. This influx of edge-to-core traffic requires networks that can handle far more complexity while maintaining seamless user experiences, DeBacker noted.
“Today, it’s a big centralized effort to bring that data back in, analyze that data and then be able to make decisions on that,” he said. “We’re seeing a much bigger influx of data coming from the edge into the core and out to the cloud.”
Extreme is leveraging its strengths in wired fabric and wireless solutions to empower AI at the edge. With data being the currency of AI, the ability to pull that information directly from both the network and end devices is critical for the AI network. By correlating device health with network performance, Extreme helps ensure connectivity and superior user experiences across various industries, including healthcare, manufacturing and smart cities, according to DeBacker.
“From all those devices that attach to the network, we want to be able to pull that information and utilize AI in such a way that we can correlate the health of the network with the health of the device, and then really provide even better information to our end users,” he said.
Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of The Networking for AI Summit event:
(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for The Networking for AI Summit event.)
Photo: SiliconANGLE