This article was updated October 22, 2024 to reflect product advancements.

Imagine a customer walking into your retail location and effortlessly connecting to fast, secure Wi-Fi on their phone. Instantly, their app engages them with tailored location-specific information like available coupons and new products, based on personal preferences and buying behavior. When they’re ready to check out, they skip the register and leave without the wait thanks to cashierless checkout, enjoying a truly convenient and frictionless interaction.

Creating such exceptional customer experiences is vital in today’s competitive business landscape. But behind the scenes, achieving this requires a robust network, integrated IoT devices, and an immense amount of data traveling the network in real time. The rapid advancement of AI-powered experiences—from hyper-personalization to in-store augmented reality (AR)—has opened up countless possibilities, but it has also placed a significant strain on network infrastructures (and the IT teams who support them). 

Your customer experience is only as good as your network 

To deliver exceptional experiences across every touchpoint and every location requires simplifying network operations. A Cisco cloud-managed network enables you to ditch silos and provide reliable, high-performing connectivity at any site, no matter how remote. This allows your employees to unlock productivity and collaboration, resulting in better interactions and faster problem solving for your customers.  

Simplifying network operations allows your team to shift from keeping the lights on to delivering innovative, seamless experiences your customers will appreciate.  

Powering more possibilities starts with scaling the network across locations 

To empower networking teams with more connectivity and flexibility without costly overhead, Cisco is introducing a new, versatile Meraki switching lineup: 

MS130: Cost-effective mGig access switches for remote branches and small/medium campuses 

• An extensive product family with 8/12/24/48 port options in compact and full rack size  
• Perfect for connecting and protecting retail point of sale setups, physical security, video conferencing/streaming, or higher bandwidth Wi-Fi deployments, all while reducing operating and deployment costs 

MS130R: First Meraki cloud-managed ruggedized PoE switch for harsh hot/cold/tight environments 

• Extends reliable PoE power and connectivity with IP30 protection and extreme temperature (-40 °F to 158 °F) support.  
• Ideal for outdoor cameras and access points in temperature-challenged environments like parking lots (for physical security and/or seamless curbside pickup), menu board setup,skiing resorts, and pop-up events 

Catalyst 9300L-M, C9300-M, and C9300X-M switches for campuses

• Combine the power of the industry-leading Catalyst switching portfolio with the scalability of Meraki cloud management   
• With the Meraki out-of-box experience, your team can maximize operational efficiency from day 0 and scale faster without compromising performance  
• Cloud-native IOS XE software architecture offers faster boot and initialization, the ability to perform CLI show commands directly from the Meraki dashboard, and numerous other benefits for cloud-managed Catalyst switches (in public beta, fall 2024) 

Protect networks and privacy at scale with intelligent, intent-based security  

 As in the frictionless retail experience we described, the variety of applications and technologies designed to enhance on-site experiences can create a surge of devices accessing the network.   

To protect data and ensure compliance from core to edge, it is crucial to have granular visibility and control over network traffic and access. Powered by Cisco TrustSec Security Group Tags (SGT) technology, Adaptive Policy dynamically identifies and enforces security policies for users, devices, and applications with network-based micro-segmentation.   

We are thrilled to extend Adaptive Policy hardware support to MS130 mGig models, MS130R, and the Catalyst 9300-M line, enabling you to safely reduce the attack surface across different environments at scale.

 

Speed innovation with simplified, smarter cloud-managed networks 

The true magic of Cisco Meraki starts even before the package arrives at your site. True zero-touch provisioning means large-scale deployments can be completed in minutes. With no dedicated on-site IT staff required, you save on time and expense.

All Cisco Meraki solutions can be effortlessly managed through the same intuitive cloud-managed dashboard. This provides your network team with deep contextualized visibility and remote management—without complexity or additional operational costs.

Learn more  

Talk to your Cisco Meraki account team today. Register for our webinar to learn more about how these new Meraki cloud-managed switches deliver enhanced connectivity, increased flexibility, and reduced overhead, empowering your organization to expand the possibilities of the customer experience.