Platformization Promises to Unlock Power of AIPlatformization Promises to Unlock Power of AI

Enterprises are delivering more and more tools – many of them AI-enabled — to users, but to get the most out of them they should be accessible through a single software platform, tailored to each individual.

This integration of core IT capabilities is known as platformization and it is set to become a hot topic for 2025 as organizations seek to unlock the potential of AI and enable rapid innovation by unifying applications and workflows.

Enterprise networking and security company Extreme Networks recently introduced its AI-powered platformization tool Extreme Platform One to integrate networking, security and AI solutions.

It features AI-powered automation including conversational, interactive and autonomous AI agents to help make networking, security and business teams more productive.

According to Extreme Networks chief technology and product officer Nabil Bukhari, it supports what he calls the ARC protocol of outcomes AI can deliver:

“In terms of networking, we think of AI not as a product but as a core capability,” Bukhari said. “We’re embedding AI as a core capability into everything to do with networking and security, which enables you to accelerate, replace or create.”

Extreme Networks chief technology and product officer Nabil Bukhari.

Platformization comes into its own in the AI space because the surge in its adoption means many organizations have rushed to introduce standalone AI-enabled tools such as chatbots and copilots. However, according to Bukhari, operating them separately can introduce four main problems:

User Experience: In an environment with too many applications, users are constantly context-shifting, which Harvard Business Review research suggests is the number one loss of productivity.

Increased Risks: Shifting between applications can introduce human error.

License Stacking: Each application has its own license and every license introduces transactional and operational costs.

Separate Models: Each application has its own operating model, including data and workflows, which puts the onus on customers to integrate them.

Platformization aims to deliver a happy medium between switching between multiple applications and having just one application that aims to deliver a range of functions but compromises on the capabilities of each.

“Platformization is like having a Lego box in front of you and all your applications and their underlying technologies Lego blocks,” Bukhari said.

“Because all these services and capabilities are present in the platform, you can build a front end that works in real time and is composable so that it can serve you whatever you need at that point in time to do your job. And because all of these capabilities are part of the platform, managing the data becomes a lot easier.”

Platformization takes these point product applications, converts them into capabilities and integrates those capabilities at the workflow level through a front end with graphic user interface (GUI) workflows and automation.

Extreme Platform ONE delivers this platformization functionality in the networking space, amalgamating previously fractured functions such as network management, security management and analytics management into a single front end.

According to Bukhari, it is not just meant for networking professionals because many teams are now either stakeholders in the network or are reliant on the information from the network. For example, a security team cannot operate unless they can isolate traffic on the network.

If Bukhari is right, platformization could be the tech buzzword on every tech team’s lips next year.

“I predict the biggest hype cycle in 2025, next to AI, will be platformization,” he said.