The Real CWNEs of Extreme Networks

Okay, I assure you that this blog is not about a cheesy reality TV show. However, there is a group of real Wi-Fi reality stars at Extreme Networks that get very high ratings, but without all the drama! I am talking about all the CWNEs that work here at Extreme.

For those not familiar,Certified Wireless Networking Expert (CWNE) is the top-level certification offered by the CWNP program. To become a CWNE, a WLAN professional must pass four very hard exams about 802.11 wireless networking administration, security, analysis, and design. But keep in mind, passing four tests is only the beginning. All CWNE applicants must establish many years of wireless networking experience, meticulously document involvement with numerous WLAN projects and seek endorsements from respected Wi-Fi industry professionals. The CWNP Board of Advisors must approve all CWNE applications. As of today, only 400 individuals are card-carrying CWNEs, 16 of whom work at Extreme Networks. Extreme has CWNEs located in the UK, USA, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Canada.

We recently had another Extreme Networks employee join the ranks of CWNEs:

Karl Benedict, CWNE #395:

Karl Benedict is a Solutions Architect at Extreme Networks with over 18 years of networking experience. For six years, Karl worked for Aerohive Networks prior to joining Extreme as part of the Aerohive acquisition. While at Aerohive, he developed and ran the Professional Services department supporting customer projects from network health checks to new designs, and troubleshooting.

I have worked with Karl on numerous occasions while he was troubleshooting network issues. Karl possesses instinctive diagnostic skills that are sometimes necessary in complex enterprise network environments. I have also had the pleasure of seeing Karl in action while onsite at various customer premises. In my opinion, Karl is in the top 1% of WLAN design professionals. I personally learned a lot from Karl about warehouse Wi-Fi design. Warehouses are among the most challenging of environments and Karl wrote an excellent whitepaper on the subject: Practical Warehouse Wireless Design: An Experience-Based Guide.

Karl lives in Virginia Beach VA with his wife Melissa. They have five grown children, one grandson who keeps them very busy, and three dogs. When he’s not working in his lab, Karl and Melissa hit the road on their Ural motorcycle for some fresh air. If you know Karl, please reach out to him and congratulate him on becoming CWNE #395.

Extreme Networks currently has sixteen CWNEs in our ranks:

David Coleman – CWNE #4 United States Director of Product Marketing @mistermultipath	GT Hill – CWNE #21 United States Senior Systems Engineer @GTHill
Marcus Burton – CWNE #78 United States Cloud Technology Architect @MarcusBurton	Gregor Vucajnk – CWNE #96 United States Senior Director of PLM - Cloud @GregorVucajnk
Marko Tisler – CWNE #136 United Kingdom Director of PLM - ML and AI @tishlaar	Jeff Haydel – CWNE #163 United States Senior Systems Engineer @cajundop
Dr. Bin Han – CWNE #206 Japan Systems Engineer @binwifi	Matthew Norwood – CWNE #218 United States Systems Engineering Manager @matthewnorwood
Aren Gates – CWNE #220 United States Technical Marketing Engineer @SrScalability	Rex Chen – CWNE #227 Taiwan Principal Systems Engineer @iamrexchen
Mike Lane – CWNE #232 Germany Principal Systems Engineer @redesrapidas	Stephen Cochrane – CWNE #241 United States Senior Systems Engineer
Eastman Rivai – CWNE #248 United Kingdom Senior Technical Support Engineer @eastman_rivai	Yury Ostrovsky – CWNE #284 Canada Senior Product Manager @qyo001
Christopher Kelly – CWNE #326 United States Global Systems Engineer @WiFiFrood	Karl Benedict – CWNE #395 United States Solutions Architect @Kkarl528

Wow, that is a lot of Wi-Fi experts! Extreme currently has more employees working toward obtaining their CWNE number, so stayed tuned. In the meantime, would you like to reach out to all the Extreme CWNEs? Please reach us individually via our Twitter addresses or contact all of us via the Extreme CWNE group email account.

We encourage all dedicated WLAN professionals to work towards becoming CWNEs. Let us know when you get your CWNE number and we will teach you the secret CWNE 4-Way Handshake.