Extreme Networks Extends New Partner Financing Options Amid Coronavirus Economic Crisis

Extreme Networks is helping partners brace for the financial impact of COVID-19 with deferred payments options and extended rebates and certifications. The networking specialist also tapped former Mitel executive Wes Durow as its CMO.

Networking specialist Extreme Networks is coming to the aid of partners during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic with financial assistance in the form of deferred payments, as well as extended rebates, certifications, and program statuses.

"We want to help partners stay afloat, keep delivering on planned projects, and get themselves into stronger financial positions so they can ultimately expand into new projects," Extreme Networks' Chief Operating Officer Norman Rice told CRN.

San Jose, Calif.-based Extreme has been working closely with its channel --both distributors and solution providers -- to ensure they have access to the proper inventory and support during the global pandemic that has brought the world's economy to its knees, Rice said.

[Related: Coronavirus Will Change Tech Landscape In A ‘Radical’ Way, Solution Providers Say ]

To that end, partner certifications and statuses within Extreme's partner program have all been extended. Extreme has also expanded rebates and changed some rebate levels to help reach more partners during this time.

"We don't wants [partners'] statuses to be negatively impacted as a result of COVID-19. We want them to focus on delivering to the customers they have and not worry about losing any status," Rice said.

Extreme will also be offering broader financing terms on a case-by-case basis that will let certain partners defer any payments owed to Extreme through the end of the 2020 calendar year, Rice said.

"We're offering these programs through our key distributors in the U.S. and globally because customers are putting projects on hold or a looking for delayed payment terms," Rice said. "Partners want to ensure they get paid in order to deliver the service, and yet they have to deliver the service to get paid, so partners are caught in the middle right now."

Extreme Networks also announced it has added a CMO to its c-suite on Tuesday, tapping former Mitel chief marketing officer, Wes Durow, as its new marketing leader.

Durow served as UC provider Mitel's CMO for five years prior to his latest appointment at Extreme Networks. Before that, the longtime marketing executive was vice president of global marketing for Sonus Networks, now known as Ribbon Communications, for over three years. He also held marketing leadership roles at Fonality, now NetFortris, and Avaya.

"[Durow] comes from a similar story to what Extreme is going through with the cloud transition at Mitel," Rice said. "He's been through the cloud change, he's very experienced, and he'll help us put a front-end our go-to-market, which we believe is going to be a lot stronger than where we were in the past."

Rice told CRN last week that the firm's cloud-first approach to networking couldn't have come at a better time for Extreme Networks, as well as it's channel partners, as the coronavirus outbreak wreaks havoc on global supply chains for IT hardware.

In a business update published last week, Extreme Networks said it will see continued disruption for the June quarter, but the company also expects that its supply capacity will be at or close to 100 percent by May.