Extreme Networks

The project was the physical build-out of RNP's RedeComep program, Redes Comunitárias de Educação e Pesquisa, the initiative that gave Brazilian cities community-run metropolitan networks for education and research. Extreme nodes went in across Campinas and its region in São Paulo, the twin cities of Petrolina in Pernambuco and Juazeiro in Bahia, Marabá in Pará, and Castanhal in Pará. Each city's network was a long-distance metropolitan-area optical ring running EAPS, Extreme's Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching, the ring-resiliency protocol that keeps a fibre ring converged when a span fails, connecting RNP's point of presence to the federal and state higher-education and scientific-research institutions it served.

Installing the nodes was only half of it. The other half was making the local teams self-sufficient: delivering ExtremeXOS (EXOS) Switching and Routing training, and the knowledge transfer that goes with it, how their systems had been configured, how the whole thing worked, and how to manage, troubleshoot, and expand it once the deployment team had moved on. Handing over the ability to run and grow the network was the point.

The circle closed a second time, and earlier than any badge says. In March 2021 the authorized teaching of Extreme Networks began through TD SYNNEX, the Extreme Authorized Training Partner for Brazil: the Extreme Switching curriculum (Installation and Configuration, Advanced Configuration, Management, Troubleshooting) and the Campus EXOS Switching and Routing course of the Extreme Certified Specialist track. In May 2023 VERSIM, the Extreme Authorized Training Partner in Poland, added the EMEA and Americas deliveries. From late 2023, with the move to full-time teaching, the Extreme classes have been delivered only through Red Education, virtual and on site, in any time zone, and the tracks have grown with the platform: switching and fabric (EXOS, VOSS and SPB), ExtremeCloud SD-WAN from installation to troubleshooting, ExtremeCloud Edge, ExtremeCloud IQ API and automation, and the Cisco-to-Extreme conversion course. The 2023 certifications (Extreme Certified Associate and Professional, Switching) and the 2024 instructor badge on Credly came along the way; the teaching had been authorized for years by then. The catalogue and the current authorizations are on the training page.