Archive for November, 2017

MV giveaway eligibility

Free Switch and MV for Qualified IT Professionals

Qualified IT professionals who attend the webinar can (subject to the below conditions) can initiate a free trial of any Cisco Meraki MS-Series switch. Additionally, once the free MS trial has been set up, attendees can receive a free Meraki MV21 camera and with a free 3-year license.

To be eligible for a free camera, participants must:

  • Have received an email invitation for the webinar, sent from Cisco
  • Attend the live webinar in its entirety
  • Have a free MS trial launched and approved before January 12, 2018
  • Register with a valid company name, company email, and website
  • (i) Be an IT professional working in in one of the countries listed below, (ii) have an active role of managing, maintaining, or monitoring their organization’s network infrastructure, and (iii) be employed by the company
  • Register with a shipping address (a post office box is not sufficient) in the US. At this time, we cannot ship free switches to post office boxes.
  • Not be a partner, reseller, or consultant
  • Confirm eligibility and shipping address with a Cisco Meraki representative by phone

Free cameras are not available under this promotion for partners, resellers, or consultants, and the promotional devices may not be used for resale or distribution. Limit 3 free camera per organization, and 1 per individual.

Once Cisco Meraki has confirmed a participant’s eligibility, we will send the free camera as soon as we can, subject to inventory and availability. By accepting the camera you represent that you are authorized by your employer to accept the camera that you will disclose receipt of the camera to your employer as and if required. The recipient is responsible for taxes and duties, if any. Due to abuse, we cannot provide free cameras to individuals who register with personal email addresses such as yahoo, gmail, hotmail, and other email domains not registered to your company. Please speak directly to your Cisco Meraki rep if you have any questions.

Please note that U.S. K-12 schools and public libraries are also not eligible to receive a free camera after attending a webinar. Instead, these customers can request a product evaluation.

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Do It Yourself

The Meraki team has a north star we’re always aiming toward: simplifying the IT experience. These words make a great tagline, and indeed they are the essence of our mission statement. Putting this mantra into practice is easier said than done in the tech world, where new features are constantly vying for attention. The reality is a continual tension between feature richness and simplicity, a line we walk every day at Meraki.

Our Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solution, Systems Manager, provides IT administrators with rich and powerful control over the managed devices entering their environment – be they organization-owned or employee-owned. The many operating systems covered by this solution are continually evolving and adding new features themselves, so inevitably the number of levers and knobs available in Systems Manager to control them all also grows.

The good news is that while IT departments may need all these controls at their fingertips, this isn’t true of all Systems Manager users. A classroom teacher, for example, may only need a subset of tools, enabling control over the devices in use within their own class. If a simpler tool could be provided, focused on the essentials for device and app management, this could reduce the number of calls to IT.

Enter Systems Manager Self Service Portal. Let’s call it the SSP.

The SSP is perfect for two groups of users: those looking for a clean, simple interface through which to manage the essentials for a small number of devices, and the end users of those devices themselves. Starting with the former, the SSP prioritizes efficiency with a thoughtfully designed, streamlined interface.

Self Service Portal Device

Here we can see the tools our customers tell us they use most frequently, both for managing the devices themselves, and the apps they are running.

Self Service Portal Lock

Self Service Portal Lost Mode

End users of managed devices can also benefit from the SSP by using the portal to install apps when permitted to do so. In addition, end users can use the tool to see what their IT administrators are able to do with, and see on, the device they’re using. This provides greater confidence and transparency over whatever data or information they access or share through the devices they’re using.

Self Service Portal Employeer Visibility

We believe Meraki is more than just a product, it’s an experience, and the best way to get a feel for the new interface is to take it for a test drive. For more details, and to set the SSP up, take a look at the dedicated documentation page. As ever, we love to hear our customers’ feedback, so please let us know your thoughts on the new tool, either on twitter or in the new Meraki Community.

With E-rate Funding, Magic Happens at Ascend Public Charter Schools

Ascend Photo 4

Four sites with four separate networks. No VPN capabilities, no streamlined network management, and no IT budget. Limited wireless access, inhibiting student learning and staff collaboration. Only a five person IT team. Starting to sound like a nightmare?

This was the reality for Ascend Public Charter Schools, located in Brooklyn. Emeka Ibekweh, Managing Director of Technology, inherited very old, traditional controller-based, networking equipment when he joined in 2013. He was faced with challenges that are all too familiar to IT admins: each school had a separately managed network, there was limited wireless access for students and staff to use, and making network configurations or upgrades had to be done manually, on-site. This was not only taxing the IT team, but making it nearly impossible for students to benefit from digital learning resources and requiring staff to use traditional teaching methods. Emeka knew he needed to make a change — so when he received E-rate funding, he jumped right into a network refresh.

Having used Cisco before, Emeka decided to start there. He and his team trialed Cisco Meraki, and after seeing that he could manage all of his networking equipment from one easy-to-use dashboard, he was sold. They purchased Meraki access points, switches, and security appliances and began to roll them out across all of their schools. They immediately saw the benefits – from being able to quickly make configuration changes, to viewing all network traffic, to easily creating separate and secure SSIDs. Plus, students and teachers can now easily and reliably log onto the network, improving student learning initiatives and increasing collaboration among teachers and staff. It really was a dream come true.

Now, nearing the end of 2017, Ascend Charter Schools has grown to ten schools spread across eight buildings and Meraki has continued to grow with them. With each new school, Meraki is quickly deployed at each site, providing unparalleled network access for students and teachers. Emeka and his team now have complete visibility into their network, easily identifying which APs are receiving the heaviest load, which switches are using the most power, what content is being filtered, and where the bandwidth sinkholes are coming from. He can now manage his entire network from a single, simple interface, easily pushing firmware upgrades and running cable tests with the push of a button.

To learn more about Ascend’s Meraki deployment, what products they use, and what they plan to do next, read the full case study. Watch the webinar recording to see a live demo of Ascend’s Meraki dashboard.

Our Most Versatile Switch Ever: The MS210

Hot on the heels of our previous switch release (here) comes our MS210 stackable access switch.

We designed the MS210 to provide network administrators the option to stack the new 1G switch to the 10G uplink of the MS225.

Large enterprise networks often require multiple switches to handle office traffic but have only modest bandwidth needs per switch. However, many desire the flexibility to enhance their bandwidth capability as the organization’s tech needs grow.

The MS210 provides incredible power and flexibility to our switch line. Seven MS210s linked to a MS225 for its 10G uplink (to form a stack of eight) creates one of the most versatile and economical switch options available — all easily configurable using the Meraki dashboard.

 

ms210-stacked

The MS210 line features basic Layer 3 connectivity and comes in both 24- and 48-port models along with PoE and PoE+ power options.

MS210 Features:

  •       Stacks with the MS225 to access 10G uplink
  •       4 x 1G SFP uplinks
  •       PoE and PoE+ options
  •       Basic Layer 3 Routing (Static)
  •       24- and 48-port models

Contact our sales team to learn more about how to use the MS210 in your deployment!

 

Introducing Customer Advisories

2017 has been a challenging year in the world of IT, with a number of high-profile incidents making headlines all around the globe. At Meraki we’ve also discovered issues of our own and made progress in eliminating vulnerabilities, helping to protect our customers’ valuable data. We take this kind of work very personally, and consider it a journey, never a destination.

No IT administrator wakes up wanting to hear about issues like these, especially if they create more work to mitigate, but no doubt all IT admins would reluctantly concede these issues are a fact of life that we will all continue to face from time to time. On the rare occasion we at Meraki do need to communicate about an issue, especially when an action is required, we are able to inform not only through email, but also through the dashboard itself, to any Meraki customer who is potentially impacted.

Thanks to the Meraki model, it’s often the case that we only need to inform because we’ve already patched systems before a vulnerability becomes common knowledge. This was the case with several ransomware attacks we’ve seen this year. Thanks to the integration of Cisco Talos intelligence into the Meraki MX, customers with the Advanced Security license are proactively protected against malicious actors through world-class intrusion and malware detection. In other cases, like the recently uncovered KRACK Wi-Fi vulnerability, firmware which addressed the issue was prepared ahead of public disclosure, meaning we merely needed to inform customers and prompt them to upgrade, where necessary.

Whether to require action, or simply to inform, we want to ensure we are communicating as transparently as possible in a way that is easy to keep track of. To this end, today we are introducing the new Cisco Meraki Customer Advisories page. This page will act as a chronological repository of issues that have the potential to impact Meraki customers, regardless of whether it’s an industry-wide issue or one relating to Meraki technology.

The Meraki team will continue to draw attention to high-priority issues through the channels we’ve always used, so think of this as a supplemental reference which will serve as a record of significant issues that have come to our attention. Through this tool we hope to further raise our chances of reaching and informing every Meraki customer.

We may not be able to wave a magic wand and prevent future vulnerabilities or issues, but we remain ever vigilant and will always do our utmost to communicate transparently. Please take a look at the Advisories page and let us know what you think in the Meraki Community.

 

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Lo más reciente de Meraki para América Latina

Durante Cisco Live! Cancún, presentamos nuevos productos que impactarán al mercado latinoamericano.

En Cisco Meraki creemos que la tecnología conecta y potencia a las personas, motivo por el cual buscamos simplificar tecnología poderosa para poder permitirle a nuestros clientes concentrarse en su misión y no en problemas cotidianos de tecnología. Nuestro portafolio incluye sistemas inalámbricos, switches, equipos de seguridad, EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) así como cámaras de videovigilancia, todo administrado de forma centralizada en un panel único de control en la nube llamado “El Dashboard de Cisco Meraki” que le permite al administrador de TI acceder a la red en cualquier momento y en cualquier lugar.

Lo más reciente de Meraki 

Dashboard Cisco Meraki en Portugués

Conscientes de las necesidades del mercado brasileño y la importancia de brindarle una mejor experiencia al cliente, Cisco Meraki lanza un nuevo idioma del Dashboard: Portugués.  La plataforma de administración en la nube estará ahora disponible en portugués para así hacerle aún más sencilla la administración de tecnología al administrador de TI.

Nuevos equipos de seguridad MX

MX250 y MX450: Estos son dos nuevos dispositivos de seguridad ideales para concentrar grandes sucursales, campus y VPN:

• Diseñados para despliegue de alto rendimiento, con un rendimiento de firewall con estado que va de 4 a 6 Gbps.
• Opciones de interfaz flexible, incluyendo 1GbE y 10GbE para aplicaciones de cobre y fibra.
• Interfaces WAN 10G para conectividad de enlace ascendente de alta velocidad.
• Fuentes de alimentación modulares, reemplazables en el campo.

Meraki Z3: Una poderosa adición a la familia de gateways Meraki Teleworker.
• Incluye un puerto PoE + para teléfonos VoIP y otros dispositivos finales con alimentación
• 802.11ac Wave 2 inalámbrico
• Mayor rendimiento

Expansión de Meraki vMX100: Ahora disponible para Microsoft Azure, extendiendo la funcionalidad Meraki Auto-VPN y SD-WAN a la nube pública.

Actualizaciones de EMM Systems Manager

• Introduciendo “No molestar”
• Cisco Security Connector, La próxima etapa de la asociación Apple-Cisco
• Conector de seguridad de Cisco para iOS

MS SWITCHES
• Introducción a MS120-8: el modelo de próxima generación del MS220-8. Amplía la línea para incluir modelos sin potencia, de baja potencia (62w) y de plena potencia (124w)
• Los modelos MS120 y MS210 de 24 y 48 puertos están programados para el lanzamiento de otoño de 2017

Para saber más visita la sección de productos en nuestra página web y síguenos en Twitter @MerakiLatAm

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Accelerating growth in healthcare with Cisco Meraki

The junction of big data and small medical devices is rapidly transforming the world of medicine. A new generation of sensors, from Apple Watches and Fitbit wristbands to home glucometers and blood pressure cuffs, gives consumers instant access to measures of their personal well-being. Since wearables and connected devices are making their way into regular practice, doctors, nurses, and other practitioners increasingly turn to big data to make sense of all this patient information.

With more patient data available now than ever before, healthcare providers are seeing startling opportunities, but not without having to deal with a number of challenges. Security incidents, process challenges, architecture issues, limited correlation capabilities, and lack of threat visibility all plague healthcare providers. Migrating from an on-premises IT stack to cloud-managed IT is one way providers have found success in confronting these challenges head-on.

With Meraki cloud-managed IT, healthcare companies can scale technology rapidly across tens, hundreds, even thousands of hospitals and clinics, enabling them to digitally disrupt their operations for the better. Check out a webinar we hosted in collaboration with EPIC Management, L.P., to learn how Meraki customers:

  • Easily configure site-to-site VPN to connect remote branch locations securely
  • Manage computers across growing numbers of clinics
  • Provide support for Wi-Fi-dependent medical devices through segmented SSIDs

Watch the webinar now!

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Connecting clouds

Not a day goes by in the world of IT without mention of “the cloud,” in one context or another. Public and private cloud-based services continue to transform the IT industry at a rapid pace, in parallel with the demand for better ways to manage IT infrastructures.

Public cloud solutions provide an option for IT administrators looking to reduce the amount of physical hardware they need to support by running services in a virtual environment. Another ubiquitous form of cloud service is mass public data storage, something which touches the lives of almost everyone connected to the Internet, whether they know it or not. Applications we use every day, like Netflix, Expedia, Spotify and Geico use data storage services provided by one of the cloud storage specialists. These services are attractive to fast-moving tech innovators who get to focus on what they do best without having to build their own huge storage infrastructure to support the data their apps use.

Meraki itself works with cloud hosting providers, and we understand how valuable these services can be to our customers first-hand. Back in May we announced a new software solution we call Virtual MX (or vMX) that enables Meraki customers to conveniently connect directly to a virtual MX instance within Amazon Web Services (AWS) using Meraki Auto VPN. This eliminates the tedious manual configuration associated with regular third party services or VPN peers. Once the VPN is up, Meraki SD-WAN technology ensures dependable, robust connectivity to essential services.

It’s always a good sign when the moment a cool solution is announced for one use case, you’re immediately bombarded with questions about when it will be available for other similar services, and that’s precisely what we experienced with vMX for AWS.

The service everyone wanted to know about? Microsoft Azure.

Azure is one of the largest players in cloud services, so we are excited to announce global availability of Azure Managed Application support for vMX. Customers can now order vMX (VMX100), specifying either AWS or Azure, that will operate as a one-armed VPN concentrator within its host cloud, providing easy access to hosted IT services.

Screen Shot 2017-11-02 at 12.55.19 PM

Detailed setup instructions are available on our documentation site, and customers keen to try either service can now request a trial by reaching out to their Meraki contact.

To learn more about the full capabilities of the MX, sign up for one of our webinars or request some trial gear. We’d love to get the product into your hands and please don’t be shy about letting us know which service we should be connecting Auto VPN to next!

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