It's The End Of The Year As We Know It...

And I feel fine...

Here's  a little tech year in review for you from the  folks at Engadget. :)  Really though, I don't get to toot the Meraki horn enough on this blog...but I get to say in IT this was definitely the year of Meraki and real Cloud Computing.

The notion of Cloud Computing isn't new, and a lot of the stuff we're seeing now are actually better envisioned things of the past.  As far back as 1968, developers were talking about a shared data experience...but they had no idea what would occur just over 3o years later.  Many of us now in our daily lives store documents, music and photos in a form of online storage.  (Heck I use Box.net, Dropbox AND SkyDrive!  What can I say, I've got consolidation issues.)

But with Meraki's Cloud Networking model taking off 4  years ago, and then exploding all over the scene in 2011 with their Wireless Cloud Networking, and then expanding into switches and security appliances in 2012...they had hit on something that wasn't just forward thinking.  You see, Forward Thinking will either put yourself out of business, or get you laughed at until the idea actually catches on.  What they did was to make less work for IT people...a natural way to get a product adopted.  With that mantra of less time spent managing routers, switches and the wireless routers...early adopters of Meraki became its advocates as much as we salespeople are.

Now here they stand, being purchased by Cisco (who wants to maintain their leadership of the IT World by having the best technologies available) for $1.26 Billion dollars...and in all honesty, Cisco is going to make that money back in a year.  Everybody wins.

So this little company that I took a chance on (thanks to my now good friend at Meraki, James Enston) has grabbed the brass ring and held on tightly.  The reason is because through them we can see a glimpse of the future where things were just a bit easier on IT personnel...and they could run things smarter.

I may not be right all of the time...but when I'm right, I hit it on the head with a 10lb sledgehammer. :)

Happy New Year!

 

Meraki's big step into a larger world...

When I woke up this morning and saw the news...I can't say I was surprised.  A lot of folks that I work with were, and some understood what was going on, others just liked to jab at me because I'm not a Cisco fan.  But yes, today Cisco announced their intent to purchase Meraki for 1.26 BILLION dollars.  Yes, BILLION.  The good thing is, this is being done not to shut down competition, not to turn them into a clone of what Cisco was offering...but a chance to actually grow Cisco into a place where they were struggling to get into properly.

Meraki built up the notion of Cloud-Based Networking.  There really wasn't much of anything related to it until they came onto the scene and stood out like Andre the Giant in a subway station.  Gartner recognized them, channel partners worked with & promoted them, and clients saw their work drop and productivity increase.  Their year over year growth was stunning...and I still think they're going to explode out of the windows of their office, much like this. :)

SO it makes sense that Cisco wants them, and not only that, but wants them to REMAIN being Meraki.  Finding that amazing new talent, building a sales culture that makes sure everyone wins, innovating products daily...so much so that to stifle them would be a waste of Cisco's investment.   Heck, the people I know at Meraki are friends...not just co-workers or a partner...friends who I'd take a bullet for.  We've grown together...inspiring each other and making real magic.

Do I see this as the end of that magic?  No.  Harry Potter just graduated from Hogwarts to the Real World...watch out.  That's a mean Expelliarmus charm. ;)

So for those of you who are worried or concerned, stop.   It's good.  Working a deal with us for their product?  Keep on...though I would suggest buying the longest term contract possible (1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years are available)...because we're here to still work with them and help them deliver the best experience possible.

I never thought I'd say this, but Thank You Cisco.  Thank you for investing in the future of our business.

SQUIRREL!

TheWikiBoat & DDoS attacks today!

For those of you who haven't seen this yet, you'd be well advised.  Now while it looks like they're going to be attacking MAJOR corporations, it does make me want to ask the question of you...

When was the last time you updated your firewall?  If you've got a Cisco firewall, is your Smartnet up to date?  When was your last firmware installation?  Many more questions as well.  There's always a solution, and if you aren't sure, ASK US.  We've got backend experts on Cisco (gold certified), HP (primary partner), Sonicwall (they're owned by Dell now)...and heck I can even talk to you about Meraki's options.

Most important thing is that you're up to date, and protected...no matter how big your company is.

Let me help you...let's talk about it.  Click the contact button, or give me a call  (541 351 8845).

:)

Meraki switches up the networking game

I've been talking to many of you about Meraki for several years now.  My appreciation of this company and what they were going to mean to the networking market has been solid since day 1.  They understood the Cloud before it became a buzzword, and defined a way to make it help IT professionals make their jobs easier.  Are they perfect?  No.  But then for those of you dealing with Cisco, HP, Juniper and other, lack of perfection is something you understand.  If you haven't jumped over to the section of this blog and signed up for one of their webinars, do so now.  You can get a free enterprise access point for just attending.

The reason I'm bringing Meraki up again, is that yesterday they announced new networking products yesterday.  Products to tackle your datacenter...not only their cloud-controlled MX Security Appliances, but their new MS switches that are cloud-controlled as well.  Utilizing the same setup as their wireless cloud controllers, Meraki's new switches allow you to access how each individual switch is controlled from anywhere with web access (including your smartphone)...giving you the ability to handle multiple sites from one location with ease.  Actually though, being the switch-hound that I am, I love the built in cable testing, monitoring and alerts...because nothing is more fun than going out to test ports and cables on a switch that's acting wonky.

The big win here revolves around the MX Security Appliance line.  Note that these were routers, but they've expanded their capabilities to be so much more than just ONE thing.  Rather than have 6 individual devices, wouldn't you rather have one?  So instead of the single branch router, firewall, site-to-site vpn manager, content filter, load balancer and WAN accelerator...you can have one MX Security Appliance?  They have models designed for small offices (1-20), medium offices (20-250), or enterprise (250-10,000 users).

Look at this MX400...nice, simple, and directly something that every company that has more than 250 users can use.



Am I excited about this?  Of course.  It's a step in the right direction for Meraki, but most importantly it's going to force Cisco, HP and other manufacturers to start thinking differently about how their products are placed...because they can't buy Meraki out from under their primary investor, Google.

Go here now and sign up for the webinar next week on the 24th to learn more about their new networking products.  Trust me, I know how well these folks treat their customers...I think you'll be in for a good treat.