Archive for February, 2017

Inspiring science & technology with the help of Meraki Switches

TELUS World of Science - Edmonton- Planetarium

TELUS World of Science – Edmonton is a non-profit organization in Edmonton, Canada, focused on bringing science education to their community. The center houses one of the largest IMAX theaters in all of Canada, as well as a planetarium theater (pictured above) for lectures, events, and science presentations.

The growing organization is dedicated to its mission of fostering wonder and excitement for children and adults around science and technology in ways that advance and strengthen the community. Yet, as a non-profit, funding and costs are spread quite thin across the entire organization. When it comes to IT infrastructure, Robert Litchfield, Director of IT, leads a lean team of 2, including himself.

On March 1, 2017 at 11AM PT, Litchfield joined us in a live webinar to share some of the greatest challenges managing and monitoring the TELUS network, and how Cisco Meraki has helped advance their organizational mission, cut costs, and create opportunities for additional revenue.

Litchfield shared:

  • How his lean team manages everything from Wi-Fi, desktop support, server maintenance, data security, and application and network management
  • How the center has supported a network of hundreds of guests and devices each day, before and after Meraki
  • What the rip and replacement looked like, as well as the deployment of Meraki switches
  • Some of the unique use cases, challenges, and needs a science center faces, and how a solid network infrastructure plays a part in its success

Register today for the chance to hear directly from Litchfield on how TELUS World of Science overcame their networking challenges with Meraki to continue educating and inspiring their community.

The webinar recording can be viewed here

*free switch rules

Meet Meraki at Cisco Live! Berlin

It’s that time of year again! Cisco Meraki is headed to Cisco Live! in Berlin, Germany in just a few days. Members from our executive, product, marketing, support, and sales teams will be heading to the show to meet with our customers and partners. Stop by the Cisco Meraki booth in Hall 1.2 in the World of Solutions and meet the team!

Screen Shot 2017-02-16 at 5.48.56 PM

Undoubtedly, our favorite aspect of the Meraki Magic is the secure, cloud managed dashboard. This year at Cisco Live! we’ll be unveiling our dashboard localization project. Attendees will be able to get a dashboard demo in German, French, or English from native speakers. Want to see the dashboard in Spanish or Japanese too? You can do that with a simple click. Our experts will be on standby and ready to show you just how easy it is for your international teams to work more efficiently (and in their own language).

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If you’ve never seen the dashboard or our products up close, Cisco Live! is the perfect time to get one-on-one interaction with our experts and ask all your questions. If you’re a diehard #Merakifan, we’d love to show you the shiny new features we’ve been working on. We’ll be displaying our new wireless and switching models as well as our trusted security appliances, SD-WAN, and our EMM solution. Additionally, we’ll be showcasing Meraki Communications and live MV security cameras for the first time ever at Cisco Live! EMEA.

Last but not least, Meraki will be hosting a number of presentations throughout the week. Sign up for one of the following sessions today!

Enterprise Networks Innovation Talk (Tuesday, Feb 21, 11:15 a.m.)

  • Todd Nightingale, SVP, General Manager, Cisco Meraki

Technical Breakouts & Workshops

  • Cloud Managed Mobility with Meraki Wireless and MDM
  • Beyond the Network: Cloud Managed IT with Meraki
  • SD-WAN with Meraki
  • Cisco Meraki Cloud Managed Networks
  • Meraki MV Security Cameras
  • Cloud Managed Security for Distributed Networks with Cisco Meraki MX
  • Cloud-Based Service Management Architectures
  • Network Automation with the Meraki API
  • DevNet Workshop: Automation with Meraki Provisioning API
  • Mobile Presence and Operational Analytics with Splunk and Meraki
  • DevNet Workshop: Cisco’s New Bluetooth CMX Location
  • DevNet Workshop: Analytics with Meraki CMX Location API
  • Cisco Meraki Developers: Cloud as a Platform Overview
  • DevNet Workshop: Engagement with Meraki Splash API

We look forward to seeing you in Berlin!

 

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Enhanced 911 Visibility for MC

E911, or Enhanced 911, is a system in North America that provides the caller’s phone number and physical address to the emergency responder when an emergency call is made. In the rest of the world, a similar feature is often called caller location.

For customers that like to be prepared in case of emergencies, Dashboard will now display the exact street address associated with each MC74. If there is a mismatch between what is configured in Dashboard and what the provider is reporting, the following error will appear. This way, IT administrators can ensure that locations are always up-to-date if 911 is called.

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Default addresses can also be configured in Dashboard to update the network in bulk – this is handy when moving buildings, or adding to your deployment. This setting can be found under Network wide -> Configure -> General and will update all the phones in your network that do not have a customized address.

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If you’re curious about this feature and would like to try MC for yourself, get in touch with your Meraki rep or check out a webinar to learn more.

Announcing MV Analytics

If you noticed a new tab that says “Analytics” pop up in your Cisco Meraki MV dashboard last week, you weren’t dreaming. MV has officially taken its first step into the video analytics world.

Specifically, the MV team is delighted to announce the launch of heat maps, which will give customers valuable insights into customer behavior, school safety, and more. Staying true to one of the team’s core principles which drive product decision makingbusiness value through intelligence—developing heat maps is just the first step in delivering advanced analytics tools to our customers.

Heat maps show an overview of the last week’s worth of motion data, on a per-day basis, giving insight into how a space is being used by students—are they using the playground equipment on the weekends?—or how customers are moving through a retail store location.

MV Heat Maps in Action

Most importantly, as with all Meraki products, cloud management means that every existing MV user will now automatically have this heat map tool available to them (as a public beta): no software installation, payments, or configuration required. Simply log in to your dashboard account to try it out for yourself.

If you haven’t gotten your hands on an MV yet or seen one in action, get in touch with your Meraki rep or check out a webinar to learn more.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

So your first five MV cameras have just arrived. Now what? Proper, strategic camera installation can make all the difference when it comes time to review footage. Taking the time to map out your deployment before the big day (installation day!) can mean the difference between finding your boss’s stolen iPad and coming up empty handed. Here are some tips and ideas to help get you started:

1. Think context and identity. When installing MV cameras (or any security cameras, for that matter), two cameras per key area should typically be regarded as a minimum requirement. One camera should be zoomed out, with a wide field of view for context. The other should be zoomed in on an area where you can easily catch a face walking by (think door entrances) in order to catch detail and help you identify potential perpetrators.

Having one or more cameras situated so you can easily perform a motion search can help too. This may double as your wide-angle camera, or a third could be useful. As with network deployments, camera deployments will vary widely based on your particular use case. Consultation with the experts—your partner or installer—is recommended.

Zoomed Camera

A zoomed in camera for identification.

Wide Angle

A wide angle camera for context.

 

2. Aim! MV is a fixed, varifocal lens camera, so lens adjustment should be done during physical install. Use the Meraki Mobile App to simplify installation that much more and reduce the likelihood of dropping your laptop off the top of a 10 foot ladder.

Mobile App

Setup with the Meraki mobile app is a breeze.

3. Focus. While lens positioning adjustments must be made during physical install, zoom, aperture, and focus settings are adjusted remotely, through the dashboard or the Meraki app. MV’s autofocus tool allows you to either focus on the whole frame, or select a specific area to focus on. Check out this mini-demo to see how easy it is to adjust these settings.

Happy MV installing! For more information, check out our free webinars and get in contact with your Meraki sales rep.

How One Retailer Took Over the Nation with Meraki

A Wireless Map

When Stephen Stanton, VP of IT at A Wireless, was told about upcoming plans to acquire 370 stores across the United States, he didn’t think it would be possible. Stanton knew the company would not be able to scale at that rate with their legacy networking solution. But that was four years ago. Today, A Wireless, a full-service Authorized Verizon Retailer, has about 1,170 stores across 46 states—an almost tenfold increase in store locations.

On Thursday, February 9th at 10 AM PT, Stanton will join us in a live conversation to share how A Wireless evaluated and decided on Cisco Meraki as their solution of choice for national expansion.

As A Wireless acquired new stores, they also acquired a mix of IT networking solutions and vendor products. They found themselves with a network built on varying technologies, configurations, and management systems. Implementing a standardized network and centralized management was essential for their continued success. 

Over a 3-year period, A Wireless have saved in excess of 80% in the total cost of ownership of the network, compared to a more traditional networking solution.

A Wireless TCO Cost Savings

A Wireless TCO Cost Savings

Over 670 stores already fitted with a full suite of Meraki solutions, including MX Security Appliances, MR Access Points, MS Switches, and even a few MC Phones. Now, Stanton and his team are ready to deploy the next 500 locations with the same products and by the final deployment, all 1,170 stores will be full Meraki shops without any other network vendor solutions.

View a recording of this webinar, A Wireless, A Verizon Premium Retailer: Scaling Nationally with Meraki, here: [Link]