Why Your Network Still Breaks (and How Fabric Automation Fixes It for Good) 

If your network still suffers from unexpected outages, slow provisioning, or painful configuration errors—you’re not alone. 

Despite massive investments in infrastructure, many IT teams are stuck firefighting the same recurring problems: VLAN misconfigurations, manual errors, inconsistent policies, and brittle architectures that buckle under change. 

At PCS, we’ve worked with countless organizations across the public and private sectors, and the pattern is clear: legacy networks were never designed for today’s demands. But there’s good news—Extreme Networks Fabric Automation changes the game. 

Why Networks Keep Failing 

Even the best teams make mistakes when they’re working with complex, manually configured environments. And the more distributed your users, devices, and cloud apps become, the harder it is to keep everything secure, stable, and performant. 

Here are the top causes we see behind recurring network failures: 

• Manual configurations and updates IT teams waste hours per site replicating VLANs, ACLs, and other policies—one typo can cause a ripple effect of downtime. 
• Inconsistent provisioning workflows Onboarding new switches or locations requires multiple teams and steps, often delaying rollouts for weeks. 
• Poor network visibility Without real-time telemetry and end-to-end topology views, identifying root causes takes far too long. 
• Static designs that don’t adapt Traditional networks aren’t built to automatically detect or recover from changes, which leads to cascading failures.

Fabric Automation: The Fix That Scales 

Extreme Fabric powered by PCS deployment expertise solves these issues with a modern, intent-based, self-forming network architecture. 

Here’s what sets it apart: 

✅ Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) 

Turn on a switch, and it auto-discovers, authenticates, and configures itself based on your network blueprint. What used to take days now takes minutes. 

✅ Automated Topology Formation 

Extreme Fabric builds the topology dynamically—meaning no more manual VLAN stitching or static routing tables. Add a device or site, and it adapts automatically. 

✅ Self-Healing Capabilities 

If a link or node fails, Fabric reroutes traffic in real-time without manual intervention, maintaining uptime and performance. 

✅ Policy Consistency Across the Edge and Core 

With Fabric Connect and ExtremeCloud™ IQ, policies follow users and devices wherever they connect—simplifying security and reducing errors. 

Real-World Impact: Time and Cost Savings 

In a recent PCS + Extreme deployment for a K–12 district with 30+ campuses: 

• Cut network provisioning time by 80% 
• Reduced troubleshooting incidents by 60% 
• Freed up 40+ IT hours per month to focus on strategic projects 

And because Fabric environments are inherently more secure, scalable, and resilient, the organization saved significantly on future upgrade and support costs. 

Why Partner with PCS 

Fabric Automation works best when paired with real-world expertise. PCS brings deep experience in campus-wide deployments, hybrid environments, and high-security use cases. We know how to design, implement, and optimize Extreme Fabric for maximum business impact. 

Whether you’re planning a network refresh or scaling for new demands, we’ll help you get there faster—with fewer headaches and no more break/fix cycles. 

Ready to Build a Network That Doesn’t Break? 

Let’s talk. Book a Fabric Readiness Assessment or contact PCS to explore what Fabric Automation can do for your environment.