Ethernet had just reached gigabit speeds, and Extreme Networks built switches to sell that speed for less. In 1999 corporate networks strained under new traffic from the web, email, and file sharing. Extreme's Summit and BlackDiamond lines used custom chips to switch traffic at full speed, at a lower cost per port than older designs. Extreme went public in April 1999, in the second wave of a networking boom.

Ethernet All the Way Up

Gordon Stitt, Stephen Haddock, and Herb Schneider founded Extreme in 1996. The bet was that Ethernet would scale from the desktop to the network core. They also bet that a focused start-up could beat bigger rivals on speed and price. Extreme built its switches around custom chips that handled routing and switching in hardware. Customers ranged from universities to data centers. Extreme competed head on with Cisco and with other new switch makers.

Off to North Carolina

Extreme priced its offering at $17 a share in April 1999. The stock rose sharply through 2000 before falling with the market. The company survived the crash and grew by acquisition, buying wireless and data center businesses from Motorola, Avaya, and Brocade. It moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to North Carolina. Extreme remains a public company today, trading on the Nasdaq as EXTR.

Cover: Yoro Waterfall in Mino Province, Katsushika Hokusai. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a great waterfall (extreme speed).