With increased competitive pressures on traditional brick and mortar retailers due to the rapidly growing online ecommerce channels, retailers must provide a high quality digital in-store experience to effectively engage, retain and support customers. At the same time, shoppers are leveraging smartphone technology to enhance their retail shopping experience, and expect seamless wireless networking connectivity in retail stores. These trends add complexity for retail IT departments to manage a high number of mobile devices in a large distributed network with a remote IT department. To allow traditional retailers to compete and meet shopper expectations, Extreme Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXTR) introduces its Retail Guest Analytics solution as part of its new ExtremeWireless™ WiNG product portfolio at the upcoming National Retail Federation (NRF) Convention & Expo.

Extreme’s Retail Guest Analytics solution is a highly integrated, customizable platform that enables retailers to better understand shoppers’ in-store habits and create personalized offers. The solution scales up to 10 million shoppers across a chain with easy single sign-on, provides retailers with comprehensive insights into shopper demographics and buying behaviors leading to increased revenue per customer, and integrates directly with the ExtremeWireless WiNG solutions. It also gives brick and mortar retailers the tools to compete on par with online retailers by quickly adjusting promotions to drive customer engagement and improve brand experience, while reducing costs and time-to-market.

To further provide efficient connectivity for shoppers, Extreme is also introducing two new 802.11ac access points (AP), ExtremeWireless WiNG AP 7602 and AP 7622, in addition to its ExtremeSwitching? 200 Series. These solutions serve the budget-conscious retail sector with massive scalability, true zero-touch auto provisioning, and unified wired and wireless management. Furthermore, this gives Extreme’s partner community a new opportunity to delve into the SMB market, specifically with the ExtremeSwitching™ 200 Series, while the Retail Guest Analytics solution allows partners to provide more value and increase intimacy with their customers moving forward.

In booth 1249 at NRF, Extreme will also demonstrate their newly introduced AP3916i AP Camera, which offers retailers an enterprise-class dual radio AP with an embedded high definition video camera that can provide in-store surveillance, or combined with video analytics, can capture insights into foot traffic patterns, length of checkout lines, product placement and more.

Key Features:

New solution offerings include:

• Extreme Retail Guest Analytics – Enables retailers to provide simple guest sign-on, obtain in-depth analytics of shoppers, including demographics and preferences, and gather metrics between stores. These analytics provide brick and mortar retailers with the tools they need to compete with online retailers including information such as the number of mobile customers that entered a store, new customers vs. repeat customers, and customer duration in a store.
• ExtremeWireless AP3916i – The industry’s first dual radio 802.11ac Wave 2 integrated high-definition camera AP for in-store video surveillance and video analytics, which can increase security, operational efficiencies and lower cost.
• ExtremeWireless WiNG AP 7602 and AP 7622 – Priced for the budget-conscious mass market applications and include enterprise-grade features and Bluetooth customer engagement.
• ExtremeSwitching 200 Series – A new family of economical, managed Gigabit Ethernet switches which address the wired connections of PCs, servers and storage devices in addition to PoE to power wireless APs and IP phones. The family can also be flexibly managed via ExtremeCloud, ExtremeManagement, web client or industry-standard command line interface (CLI).
• Cost Savings – Designed specifically to address mass-market applications, Extreme’s APs and switches are designed to accommodate enterprises, branch offices and small-to-medium sized businesses, as they run in tangent to existing infrastructure.
• Single-Pane-of-Glass Management – Centralized management via ExtremeCloud?, ExtremeManagement? or traditional on-premise management enables flexible deployments with the freedom to manage devices across a wide range of enterprise environments.

Executive Perspectives:
Dan Dulac, Vice President, Product Management & Solution Strategy, Extreme Networks
“Our newest wired, wireless, and analytics offerings work in tandem to provide retail customers with cost-effective, scalable solutions which allow them to manage all activity on the network while gaining deeper insights around customer preferences. Ultimately, this helps the retailer deliver the highest-caliber service the moment a customer steps foot in their store. We’re excited to support our growing retail customer footprint and continue to expand our investment in the market.”

Gordon Mackintosh, Senior Director of Worldwide Partner Program and Sales Business Development, Extreme Networks
“We are thrilled to include the ExtremeSwitching 200 Series in Extreme’s portfolio, as they are built and priced to support our growing retail customer base. These switches will provide our existing customers the comfort and confidence in their purchase decision and investment, while inviting new retail technology and application vendors to assist Extreme Networks in building out our retail ecosystem.”

Rohit Mehra, Vice President of Network Infrastructure, IDC
“Extreme’s latest product offerings align well with the company’s recent expansion into the retail segment following the acquisition of Zebra’s WLAN business unit. The additions to ExtremeWireless provide its partners with versatile, economical solutions that augment network intelligence, thereby helping retailers easily manage connected devices while tracking and analyzing consumer behavior for leveraging advanced retail applications. These capabilities will further enhance Extreme’s position in the WLAN market.”

Scott Arnold, President, Optical Phusion, Inc.
“Extreme’s new offerings focus on the technology needs of today’s retailers who are pressured to deliver a more personalized, connected shopping experience for customers. These new solutions are exciting for our company as we continue to look at ways to promote growth, enhance our skillset and better position our company to be competitive in the marketplace.”

A.J. Love, President of Services, Accucode
“The ExtremeSwitchingTM 200 Series is an important addition to the Extreme portfolio and will be particularly attractive to our retail customers looking for cost-effective solutions. Additionally, the WiNG Series provides unified wireless management, allowing retailers to manage all activity with ease while better understanding consumer behavior in real time. These additions will be critical for us to provide cutting-edge solutions for the ever-evolving retail landscape.”

Mahmood Chaudhri, Managing Director, Datrix Ltd
“We’re excited about the new solutions and feel that they will empower us to further deliver exceptional experiences and differentiated value for the customers we serve. Extreme’s innovative and integrated solutions have provided us with the tools necessary to be successful and we have no doubt that the new offerings for the retail industry will help us maintain our momentum in the market.”

Carlos Santiago, PM Extreme, Westcon
“Customers today are looking for retail solutions to help simplify operations while ensuring a reliable and positive experience for shoppers. These latest solutions will help us provide cost-effective, scalable technology while gaining deeper insights around customer preferences that will benefit the bottom line. It’s refreshing to work with a vendor that is truly dedicated to providing best-in-class solutions and we look forward to our continued relationship with Extreme.”