Data center switches to Wi-Fi 7 access points: Extreme launches many new devices

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At its Extreme Connect 2025 in-house exhibition in Paris, Extreme Networks announced new switches for all levels of the campus network, as well as for the data center and Wi-Fi 7 access points. This should be of particular interest to customers of the manufacturer's fabric solution.

Data center and core networks

From the third quarter of this year, the 7830 switch will be available with a high density of 100G and 400G on two height units with two additional slots for data center fabrics and classic campus core networks. Specifically, it provides 32 100G QSFP28 and eight 400G QSFP DD slots on two height units. Two expansion slots, known as VIM slots, are also available. Extreme also includes plug-in cards with 16 × 100G QSFP28, 24 × 10/25G SFP28, 24 × 100G SFP-DD or 8 × 400G in the range. As a result, a maximum port density of 64 × 100G or 24 × 400G can be achieved. Overall, the switch thus achieves a non-blocking architecture with 12.8 Tbit/s. All ports are capable of 256-bit MACsec encryption. The device comes with the Fabric Engine OS. As is usual with data center switches, the switch can be equipped with front-to-back or back-to-front ventilation.

The 8730 switch with 32 400G ports for Spine/Leaf architectures will also be launched in the third quarter. Support for the Extreme One management platform is to come later. The manufacturer did not provide any more detailed information on request, and a data sheet is not yet available.

Aggregation level

One level further down in the campus switching design, Extreme now offers the 5120 series as an aggregation switch. Its components can alternatively serve as a 10G-capable access switch and can be managed via Extreme Platform ONE or ExtremeCloud IQ in the cloud or on premises. Alternatively, a classic onboard web GUI or a CLI is also available for the console.

There are two 10G models: the 5120-24XT-4Y has 24 × 10G on RJ45 copper and the 5120-24X-4Y has 24 x 10G SFP+ slots. Both have four 1/10/25GbE SFP28 slots for the uplinks.

The larger brother 5120-44X-4Y-2C offers 44 × 10G SFP+, four times 1/10/25G SFP28 and additionally two stacking/QSFP28 slots with 100G. The 100G ports are therefore ideal for connecting to the aforementioned 7830 series in the core network.

MACsec support is currently still on the manufacturer's roadmap. However, the software scaling is somewhat surprising: while the MAC address table still allows 16,000 entries, the manufacturer only specifies 400 ARP entries, 64 IPv4 routes and for IPv6 only half of the routes and just 200 neighbor entries in the data sheet. Consequently, the switches appear to be more suitable for Layer 2 environments than for routed environments. This is somewhat unusual for a switch for distribution/aggregation.

Home cooking with small special features in the access area

In access, Extreme is launching the new 5320 switch series. The operating system can be selected between Switch Engine (EXOS) and Fabric Engine (VOSS). This series can also be managed in the cloud or on premises via Extreme Platform ONE or ExtremeCloud IQ.

The switches can also be integrated into an Extreme Fabric. In Switch Engine operating system mode, it supports instant stacking to activate an entire switch stack with a simple button and subsequently provision it via the cloud, according to the manufacturer. According to the data sheet, a stack supports up to eight switches and a bandwidth of 40G per switch in the stack.

The 16-port models 5320-16P-4XE and 5320-16P-2MXT-2X offer 16 1G copper ports in the downlink. The 5320-16P-4XE comes with four 10G SFP+ slots in the uplink and MACsec support on all ports. The 5320-16P-2MXT-2X does not support MACsec. Instead, it is fanless, has two 1/2.5/5/10G copper ports and two 10G SFP+ slots in the uplink. As a compact switch, it is also smaller than the classic 19-inch format.

The 24-port models are available with 24 1G copper ports with and without PoE (802.3at; up to 370 watts) in the downlink. They support eight 10G SFP+ slots in the uplink. They support MACsec on all ports. This only does not apply to the 5320-24T-4X-XT, which does not support MACsec and only supports 4 × 10G SFP+. The 48-port models differ only in the number of downlink copper ports from the 24-port models mentioned above, and they support up to 740 watts PoE budget. They support an aggregated total throughput of 256 Gbit/s.

The mixed 5320 switch 24T-24S-4XE-XT with 24 1G copper ports and 24 1G SFP ports in the downlink and two 10G SFP+ ports in the uplink looks somewhat unusual and interesting at the same time.

Unfortunately, there is no 802.3bt support in the entire switch series to meet the increased performance requirements in the WLAN environment. However, they do offer perpetual PoE to maintain the power supply during a restart or update. A model with multi-gigabit Ethernet (mGig) would also suit the series well.

Frugal Wi-Fi 7 access points

With the 4020 series, Extreme now also offers indoor Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be) access points which, according to the manufacturer, are directly available. It can also be managed via Extreme Platform ONE and ExtremeCloud IQ/Controller and supports fabric integration.

In terms of wireless modules, the access points feature a 2x2:2 antenna design with four antennas, one of which is used for a dedicated scan sensor. Two different operating models are possible: the first offers a 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz antenna for data traffic and a sensor antenna. In the second mode, the access points provide one 2.4 GHz and two 5 GHz antennas as well as the sensor antenna. The components also come with two IoT antennas for Thread, Zigbee, BLE 5.4 and IEEE 802.15.4.

As a new feature, they provide up to 320 MHz wide channels and 4096-QAM in accordance with IEEE 802.11be, although this is only likely to be practical in practice to a limited extent. They also provide support for multi-link operation (MLO) at – although Extreme does not specify which specific variant is supported, for example E-MLSR or E-MLMR.

On the wired side, the access points each offer two multi-gigabit-capable ports with up to 5G (eth0) and 2.5G (eth1), both of which can be used as PoE inputs with failover. What is exciting is that the access points are completely IEEE 802.3at compliant for all antennas, including the sensor. Only the 5W USB port operation requires 802.3bt.

In addition to the indoor access points, the AP4060 outdoor access point with Wi-Fi 7 and support for external antennas is due to be launched in September 2025. Extreme has not yet announced prices for any of the new devices. Further information can be found in the manufacturer's announcement.

(mack)