Archive for November, 2010

Where In the World Are Your Clients? Now You Know!

When you get a call from a wireless user complaining about connectivity problems, what is one of the first questions you might ask?  “Where are you exactly?”  Knowing precisely where a user is located can be immensely helpful in diagnosing and troubleshooting issues.  What AP are they associated to?  Are they behind a pillar that could be blocking their wireless signal?  Are they in an area of a new building where the network is currently being expanded and might still have some coverage weak spots?  This knowledge can often provide an administrator with a good idea of where they should dig in to properly troubleshoot the issue.

Starting today, administrators of Meraki Enterprise networks won’t have to ask where a client is because they’ll know: introducing Meraki Location-Based Services.  On each client details page you’ll notice a new map where the current location of the client is clearly indicated on either a Google map or building floorplan (see below screen shot).

In addition to troubleshooting client issues, there are many other situations where being able to pin down a client device’s location can be very useful to administrators, such as tracking down a lost laptop or monitoring a nurse’s progress doing rounds in a hospital with the medicine cart.  Typically these capabilities might require additional appliances and third-party software costing $10,000’s, but with Meraki they are provided with all Enterprise networks at no additional cost and without the need to deploy additional gear.

When combined with other Dashboard features like “remote hands” tools and detailed reporting with Traffic Shaper’s application-level visibility, Location-Based Services provides administrators with powerful tools to understand exactly how their network is being used and to quickly troubleshoot client issues remotely.  Please let us know what you think of this new feature using the Make a Wish box!

You asked, we listened: introducing Network Cloning

Cloud-based networking is ideally suited to managing multiple sites under a single dashboard – networks like Remington College’s 20 campuses or Epic Management’s 20 clinics are perfect example.  Recently, customers suggested a great feature to us that would make multi-site management even easier: Network Cloning.  We’re excited to announce that this wish is now a reality, and all Meraki users can try it out today!

Network Cloning is simple; when you create a new network, you now have the option to copy your configuration from an existing network with a single click.  This can save lots of time recreating similar configurations when you have multiple sites with corporate standard network configurations, such as in retail chains or corporate offices with multiple satellite branches.

Network Cloning complements other features – cloud-based provisioning, automatic RF optimization, and seamless firmware updates, to name a few – that make deploying branches a breeze.  As always, please let us know what you think about this new feature using the Make a Wish box in Dashboard.  We welcome your feedback!

New 802.11n APs – Higher performance, slimmer design, lower price

We are very excited to announce two new enterprise 802.11n access points: the Meraki MR12 and MR16. These new APs offer across the board upgrades over their predecessors, the venerable MR11 and MR14: improved performance, sleeker design, and even a lower price!
MR12/MR16

Meraki MR16 ($649)
Dual Concurrent 802.11n for Enterprise/Campus

Meraki MR12 ($399)
Single Radio 802.11n for Small Branch/Teleworker

These are the slimmest enterprise 802.11n APs.  Measuring in at under 1? thin, they blend seamlessly into their environment.


We built these APs with the network administrator in mind, making them as fast and easy as possible to deploy.  The  industrial design makes for easy, 1-handed mounting.  Each box contains a complete accessory kit, with gear for wall, drop ceiling, and desktop mounting.  No pre-configuration is required – just plug the AP in, and it automatically assumes gateway or mesh mode, and downloads its configuration from the cloud.



Despite its slim profile and lower price, the MR12 and MR16 are actually more powerful than their predecessors, featuring both increased transmit power and receive sensitivity. Highlights include:

Layer 7 Traffic Shaping
Line rate deep packet inspection engine for application QoS

High Capacity Design
Memory capacity for 100+  simultaneous users

Built-in Policy Firewall
Guest, User and Group Acces Control

4th Generation Chipset
Top of the line 2×2 MIMO with spectrum analyzer and transmit power control

Client Enhancements
Beamforming, Voice/Video QoS, Band steering

Enterprise Mesh
Self configuring, Automatic healing


To top it all off, these are green little APs, with 100% recyclable packaging, 90% recyclable components, and a multi-tenant cloud hosted controller that is far more energy efficient than traditional hardware controllers.

We’re incredibly excited about these APs, and the response we’ve received from our beta testers has been very encouraging. We hope that you like them too!