Beyond Compliance: Making Privacy Your Competitive Edge

January 28 isn’t just another date on the calendar; it’s a global wake-up call. Data Privacy Day challenges every organization to confront a hard truth: in a hyper-connected world, personal data is under constant siege. This annual event doesn’t just raise awareness; it demands action, championing best practices that safeguard privacy and earn trust when it matters most.

Privacy is widely recognized as a fundamental human right, and that recognition is reflected in the expanding network of international and national data protection laws shaping how organizations operate. Data privacy rules now apply to more than 80% of the world’s population¹ and it is increasingly important for organizations to be mindful of how they are handling data that can be used to identify people. Insight on data processing and safeguards to protect data are no longer a nice to have, they are an essential part of infrastructure. Building a solid data privacy infrastructure is an essential part of establishing trust.

At Extreme Networks, trust is foundational. When customers choose a networking partner, they need clear evidence that products are engineered with privacy in mind, support customers in meeting their data protection obligations, and are backed by recognized industry certifications. The Extreme Networks Trust Center (Trust Center | Extreme Networks) serves as a central resource for this information, reinforcing audit readiness by maintaining up to date evidence of compliance with globally recognized standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 27017, and SOC 2, while also highlighting certifications in progress.

Extreme Networks provides technical, architectural, and governance controls that help customers manage their data; limit access to personal data based on identity, role, and context; reduce unnecessary data exposure through segmentation and zero trust design; and Extreme demonstrates accountability and compliance through certifications and documentation.

For example, Extreme offers deployment choice—public cloud, private cloud, or ExtremeCloud Edge—so organizations can balance sovereignty, residency, performance, and cost. That flexibility supports compliance with regimes such as GDPR and CPRA by keeping data local when needed and applying consistent, audited deletion tools.

Trust involves data privacy principles being followed, including the protection of data in transit and at rest. Extreme Platform ONE™ Security and Extreme Fabric power automation that intelligently segments, reduces risk, and guarantees least-privilege access—placing privacy and security at the forefront. Universal zero trust security is integrated into a single platform, consolidating network and security workflows and enabling organizations to speed response times, improve productivity, and strengthen their security posture. In practice, that helps limit exposure of personal data, apply context‑aware controls, and maintains strong separation between workloads and users—critical steps for data minimization and accountability.

In establishing trust, functionality that is intentionally excluded is as important as what is included. Extreme deliberately does not position its products to profile end users, process demographic data within core networking platforms or make automated decisions about individual rights. This absence is important—it means customers retain full control over downstream use of personal data, while Extreme focuses on secure, privacy respectful infrastructure.

Data Privacy Day is a reminder that compliance is a shared responsibility. Extreme implements secure‑by‑design architectures and certifies our services to rigorous standards, while customers define lawful bases, retention policies, and user rights in line with their regulatory duties. Together, we can deliver secure connectivity that respects privacy and earns stakeholder trust.

To learn more about data privacy, visit the Trust Center. To learn more about our solutions, visit Extreme Platform ONE or Network Security.