MobileIron - Strike while it's hot!

Some days I bask in my own humor...this isn't one of those days. ;)

Seriously though, I've had some good interaction with the folks at MobileIron, and we have a dedicated tech source for them here in my offices at PCM.  If you're interested in Mobile Device Management, and Meraki's Cloud Controller setup isn't your thing for some reason...then MobileIron might be the solution for you.  I've been talking about BYOD and the C0nsumerization of IT for a long time now...longer than most pundits and sales people in this business...and eventually it's going to catch up to every business out there.  Don't let it catch you, be prepared for it...develop a strategy...and LET US HELP YOU DO THAT.  We are very good at it.

You can get links to the MobileIron and Meraki trainings online on my Webinar Page here.

Take a look...learning is always worth your time. :)

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!

Meraki Giveaway...

Now before you say 1 of 2 things...

1) What are you giving away? or

2) What is Meraki giving away?

Let me qualify this by saying... Go to this link if you're a startup with either Seed, Series A or Angel funding.  You NEED to do this.

Meraki is giving away approximately $10,000 in networking equipment and licenses to Startups.

 

I don't know what to say...I love this company already...and here they are helping out startups, with the HOPE that they'll buy more in the future.  Genius and giving at the same time.

If you're a startup and you're reading this, and you need help...contact me...otherwise...

Say more?  Nah.  It'll ruin it.   :)

 

 

Meraki's newest products and Software Update!

As many of you know, I spent a couple days up at Meraki's offices during the first week of October, being technically trained on their MX Routers, MS Switches, MR wireless units, and their Systems Manager program.  It was an intense 2 days, and really forced me (who's not actually worked on a switch since 2006) to dig in and remember what I had to do.  I trained alongside some great smaller local VARS, as well as a couple of folks from Italy & Japan who flew in for the training.  I was the only large VAR present...and it felt VERY weird.  I was the slow kid with the switch and router, but the second day with the Wireless and System Manager, I was far ahead of everyone else.  It was a great experience to learn directly from them, and now that I'm certified, I can teach and assist my coworkers and their clients when it comes to Meraki.

I also learned that driving to San Francisco from Los Angeles on a time schedule is more stressful than it's worth.  But it was fun to fly along the 5 Freeway at 2am doing 110mph. ;)  Ok on to new stuff!

Announced this past week, Meraki has a couple new products and whole host of features added in their latest software update.  Let's discuss what they have...

First up is the new MX60W.  This combo unit of their MR12 wireless & MX60 router creates a complete access & security solution for a branch office, or a home office.  It'll provide the enterprise quality for wired and wireless connectivity, a firewall, site to site vpn, content filtering and the new Intrusion Detection System (see below).  MSRP: $845

The next new piece of hardware is designed for the Cloud-managed teleworker.  Have some of your staff working from home a couple days a week?  How about one of these little guys to help make sure that any resources they are pulling are not compromised?  The Z1 is a small form factor unit with 4 ports for printers, phones and other devices (a 1GbE WAN port and 4 GbE LAN ports) and a dual-concurrant 802.11n wireless radio.  Looks great doesn't it?  While it's not a full access point, it'll definitely be a much cheaper unit to purchase for your teleworkers than a full access point.  MSRP $199  (PC Mall price $172.99)

Intrusion Detection System (IDS) - Before you'll remember that I mentioned Intrusion Detection System.  Meraki is now including IDS in their routers/switches, and it should have been pushed down recently to your system.  Built on Sourcefire's Snort, it features signature, protocol, and anomaly based inspection.  It'll deliver some iron-clad security, while allowing it to be monitored from your Meraki Dashboard.

Bounjour Gateway - Yup, they've finally added this, and I can hear network admins cheering.  (One of my friends just said that sounds a lot like zombies saying, "brains...brains..." but you can't please everyone.)  With all of the Apple TV units, iPods, printers and AirPlay mirroring out there, this will allow you to throttle the Bonjour traffic, much like how you manage your Layer 7 Traffic Shaper.  Hooray there!

Traffic Shaper Enhancements - Whammo!  This now has a better classification engine, so it'll have better application insight, and report web browsing activity.

I've got a special training with my friends at Meraki next week, in which we're going to go over these enhancements as well as a few more things for their Systems Manager program.

What???  You're not using Systems Manager?  It's free, an asset manager, software manager, Mobile Device Manager, can give you deep insight into your desktops/laptops/tablets...and it is FREE.  Go here right now and check it out.  Download it and test it.  If you want, contact me and I will walk you through it on my personal dashboard.

If you'd like a free trial of their products, go here and let's talk about that...I can help. Or text MERAKI to our google voice number. (pull the number from that link)   :)

Other than that, have a WONDERFUL Friday & weekend!

Meraki Systems Manager Rides Again!

Three years ago, I had co-workers who didn't understand who Meraki was, and why I thought their product was so amazing.  A year ago at this time, most were starting to get it...and now, they come up in conversation even on the lips of senior salespeople who started in this business while I was graduating high school.  Top of Gartner's innovators in the LAN/WAN quadrant, these guys have always known their stuff...not to mention they have some of the best people working in the business.  (My territory's area manager, Erin Hipp, is a great person and runs an awesome team.  Hi Erin! :) )

Why do I mention their free Systems Manager Asset and Mobile Device Management tool?  Because today they released some major upgrades to that already great tool.  Now they have full support for Android devices, along with a great content manager called Backpack (available for iOS in Q4) that will securely deliver files and maintain updates.  The Backpack piece is a killer deal.  Through it you can deliver specific files to all devices under your management in a bundle or singularly.

People pay for this stuff?  Really?

Jump over here...to see what this is all about.

I've said this a lot in the past year...if you use Systems Manager, and if you do the webinar for the free product you'll be sold.  If that doesn't do it for ya...you can do a free 14 day demo of the products to just see how they work for you.

Tell us what you think!

 

Magic Quadrant changeups

Good morning everyone!  "Virtual Mike" here with some interesting news about Gartner's new magic quadrant for Wired & Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure.  (That's a mouthful for Wired & Wireless networking.)  While some folks don't subscribe to Gartner's rankings & listings, they almost always have a point to make.  Because of Consumerization of IT, CIOs and IT Directors are looking for and needing solutions and not just equipment.  The quadrant shows just how many visionary players are out there, and how they're pushing forward.  The Leaders will always be the leaders, but with companies like Meraki & Aerohive leading the pack on the technical side of things, those are the companies you should be paying attention too.

I've been talking about Meraki for years now, and I"m going to toot my horn and say I was right about them.  These guys are looking to a future where wireless anywhere is easy, managing your internal devices is easier and free, and the software that manages your network should be as easy to use as possible, so you're not wasting time trying to figure things out!

The Aerohive products look similar to Meraki's, and I'm looking to see what more in-depth that they can do.  Maybe one of you all can investigate them for us and report back?  What do you say, my fellow Dragontech Lords? :)

If you want to free trial Meraki's products (any of them) click here and talk to them.  They don't sell direct, so they won't hassle you...they'll know you know me here at Dragontech and have me bother you. ;)

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).

:)

Mobile Web Content...brought to you by...

The US Government?  Those guys who still think a Fax is an acceptable method of transmitting data?  Yup them.  Apparently, our president has made it a mandate for government agencies to make all information available to US citizens on their mobile devices.  Now as many of you know, this does require that special mobile sites be created and the like...but is this a necessary immediate step?  For our government, anything faster than a hobbled elephant is too fast, but maybe this political cynic will be proven wrong.  (I REALLY hope so.)

While the US Government is moving on getting things up on mobile platforms, it appears that internet ne're-do-wells (aka hackers) are doing their best to take information down off of those platforms.  This great little article discusses that and how Apple is now under attack.  Apple-ites should now ask their Microsoft friends for a hug, it's going to get ugly before it gets better.  While I'm no fan of McAfee's statistics, they are sound and something to take seriously.

If you're investing in a mobile platform and workforce, I'd recommend staying away from Android and working with Apple's iPad.  As I mentioned in another article (and it's covered above), the number of threats to Android platforms was 600 in 2011, and has jumped to over 7,000 threats in the first half of 2012.

Need help managing or looking into how to plan a mobile setup and how to manage those devices?  Give I and my team here a call/email.  We're very good about helping you find out what you want to do...and get you started on that path.

Swing Away with Meraki!

Today is a Meraki focus day here at PC Mall (Dragontech), and we're going to be reaching out to each and every one of our clients today about Meraki's products.

Wireless Internet

Security Appliances

Switches

And my favorite...the Free Systems Manager software.  (Want to see what this looks like?  Hit the Contact button and ask me for read access to my network...I'm happy to share! :) )

You can't go wrong with these folks...nothing is perfect, but they're willing to fight and fight and fight to show people how good their products are...and so am I.

The Meraki Story is a great one...and if you have any questions, give me a call!  (541 - 351 - 8845)

Managing your systems for...Free!

The word Free is now an ignored word in many ways.  When people overuse it, the true meaning of it falls away into jargon and disbelief.   You hear things like this:

"Oh SURE this is 'free'...I don't believe it.  What's the catch?"

or

"Nothing is ever free my boy, you always pay in the end."

I never said there wasn't a rider to something that's free, but in this case, a single phone call is better than shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a real system to manage your environment.

The Meraki Systems Director is something I've been talking about with my clients for the past few weeks.  Recently, Meraki actually made it free for download, (in my opinion) to show everyone how good the backbone that their products run on, and as a thank you for those of us working hard to show others their goodness.  You can download it right here, but if you're still skeptical of a Free system to manage your desktops, laptops and iOS devices...give me a call.

I want to talk to you about it...heck, I'll even give you read access to my own Meraki network so you can see it for yourselves.  I'd like to hope that my happy clients would join in here to say what they said when they saw how good it is...because the shock & amazement is a good marker on how much something like this is needed.  (Hey, it runs on ANY network...why?  Because it only pushes out agents that report to your dashboard on Meraki's servers...THAT easy.)

If you like it, I would hope you'll contact us to help you purchase some Meraki wireless, Security Appliances, or switches.  They will compliment the System Director nicely, and you'll be really happy for it.

Consumerization of IT Strikes Back...

(Cue cease and desist from Lucas in 3...2...1... ;) )

Seriously folks, if you didn't heed my advice in prior posts about the Consumerization of IT...what we in the VARspace are calling "Mobility Device Management" or MDM...please take a look at some of the information I have for you here.

Hands down, if you work in IT you know that your users in your company are bringing in their own devices.  Whether it be their smart phones, iPads, laptops, tablets...you name it...it's logging into your wireless and using your network, or it's a tool they can use to work smarter.  In the end, I've always found that IT isn't just about managing systems, but y'all are the core that helps employees work smarter and faster.  Why wouldn't you want to give them every tool available to get their work done?  I'll tell you why in two reasons:

1) It is a lot of work that you may not be able to do, or aren't a specialist in

2) It is expensive work...or at least perceived that way.

There are solutions, and the work involved can vary quite a bit, that's where folks like us here at PC Mall come in.  We have a team of experts in MDM that are at your beck & call...and they're led by a well known expert in this particular field, Dr. Robert Kite.  Whether it's Apple-focused, or other kinds of focuses, they can help you build a solution and implement it.

Not keen on bringing in our service team, or you've got less than 100 employees?  The easiest solution is from the folks at Meraki, who I talk about quite a bit.  The reason being is that their system is designed to manage content and access to wireless and wired units...all with a few clicks and pulldown menus.  Take a look at our webinar page and take one of their trainings!  Like what you see?  Let us know and we can make sure you get a free trial unit.

In the end, the most important this is to engage help now before the Wolf of Consumerization has already eaten Grandma Network and taken over her bed.  If you have any questions, ASK. :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Regaining Control of Your Network

This just came across my desk, and I apologize for the last minute feel of it.  The folks at SonicWALL are holding a webinar on Thursday March 8 at 11am PST called "Lighting up Your Entire Network to Improve Performance & Productivity"

Following on my prior points about the Consumerization of IT, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), they're going to talk about how you can lose control over your network, and how to solve it. (With their products of course.)  This webinar is going to be hosted by Jan Sijp, Director of Product Marketing at SonicWALL (see?), and Mike Patterson, Industry Expert and CEO of Pixar.  They're going ot talk about the need to better understand what's going on under the hood of your network, and why flow-based network and application traffic analytics are good tools to gain insight.

You can register for this webinar here.  If you've got an hour this is a good topic.

Meraki is also doing their webinar about their new Security Appliances on Wed March 7 at 11am here, and on March 13th, they have a discussion on BYOD and how that'll affect you as well.

 

Who says you don't have enough to do? ;)

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.

 

How are you managing your systems?

This is a question that I don't think that I ask enough to my clients...but that's going to change.  Systems Management is a huge thing in the IT world, but it's almost always out of the average company's reach, because it's expensive...VERY expensive.  You can jump over here to Wikipedia and see how many different kinds of programs are out there to do this...and they all have their ups and downs, their learning curves, and their costs (financial or otherwise).

LANdesk is great software...no doubt about it.  But, with the basic price for 1 year and the software at around $90 per unit, that's pricey, and then maintenance agreements...and if you want anything specialized, that's an agent you have to add on.  It adds up quickly...not to mention that it's rather complex.  Not just them, but there are so many others that have the same situation that not everyone is willing to shell out that kind of money to manage their systems.

Then along comes Meraki.  I've spoken about these guys before, and my long time clients all know that I've always preached their products because of the quality that goes into them.  Now, they've taken that software that manages their wireless units & routers in the cloud, and applied it to Systems Management.  No tricky names here, the Meraki Systems Manager is a strong piece of work that delivers at a very low price.  Download the trial from their site, and let it start sending out agents to your desktops & laptops.  Here's a short breakdown for you on what it delivers...

1) Live Diagnostics - Not only does it know what your units are down to their kernels, but what software is on them, how its CPU is being utilized, RAM usage, etc.   Now you can know at a glance what's going on with one of your user's units.

2) Remote Access - Need to remote desktop in?  Easy.  How about sending a message to a user or killing a process on their computer?  Done.

3) Inventory & Location Tracking - Now you can know what you've got, where it is, and how it's being used on a simple webpage.  Who needs complicated software licensing from Computrace when you have an agent that'll tell you where a missing unit is down to the street address on google maps?

4) Software licensing management - EVERYONE needs this tool.  You know you have to track your licenses with a complicated excel spreadsheet, or through a tool that a VAR like us provide...but why?  This will tell you what's on your machines, and even if it needs to be renewed?  Jinkies!

And more than I have time to list.

Go download the trial today and test it out.  Have questions?  Let me know and we'll get you on a call with our friends at Meraki to answer your questions.  Let's cut your workload today!

Oh yes...and Happy New Year!  Be safe! :)

 

Addendum:  This software is now FREE for everyone to use.   Enjoy! :)

Meraki making a bid to be a bigger network player

I think many of you know how much I've been invested with Meraki. It's true that they make great products, but it has been wonderful to watch them grow and form over the past couple of years (like I have here). They went from a tiny organization, and once they embraced the channel (or a select few from the channel), they exploded in size. Now there's quite a few more reps than there used to be, and even I'm losing track.

At our Vision event back on November 3, I had a chance to talk with my favorite Meraki rep, and as always he was full of information...and a little innuendo that made me very interested in what Meraki is up to.  First off, they're known for their Wireless Enterprise units like the MR 58 and MR24 that work with their cloud-based architecture.  For you to be able to control all of your wireless units from one central location...using simple web-based tools...is fan-freakin-tastic.   Earlier this year, they got into the routing game, utilizing the same cloud-based architecture working with their MX70 units.

Now, based on comments that I was given...it seems like Meraki is now aiming at the "pieces inbetween" what they already handle.  What could that mean?  Only time will tell, boys and girls...but I tell you...these guys have more potential energy than you think...and when their IPO comes along, I'm first in line!

Want a free unit?  Take a look at our webinars section on this site, and sign up for Meraki's next webinar.  If you attend the full event, they'll send you a free MR12 unit (their basic unit) for you to keep and use.  As many of my clients will attest, once you use it, you want 4 more! :)

-Mike

(Note: Many of you have asked about my picture/signature these days.  I know it's actually much more attractive than my picture...but how about you scan it with your phone? ;) )