First, full disclosure. I’ve worked with Extreme Networks (EXTR) for a long time. That said, I was saddened to see that the company announced a re-organization this week and laid off 70 people.

At this point, Extreme Networks’ market cap is less than $200 million so the obvious questions is: Why isn’t someone buying the company? I wish I knew because it seems like a steal to me. Yes, Extreme Networks is small compared to other vendors but the company has a strong operating system, core to edge networking coverage, and some unique functionality that eases network operations. Oh and by the way, Extreme Networks offers high-end networking gear at near commodity networking prices.

The logical suitor in my view is HP (HPQ). HP ProCurve networking has tons of momentum but lacks a high-end aggregation and/or core switch. Purchase Extreme Networks and that problem goes away.

In spite of the setback, Extreme continues to do well in vertical industries like education and hospitality. I hope that Extreme can ultimately benefit from the re-organization and emerge stronger or end up somewhere where its innovation and feistiness are appreciated.

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3. HP & 3Com, My Two Cents
4. F5 Networks Financials Tell a Bigger Market Story
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Tags: Ethernet switching, Extreme Networks, HP, Networking