Cisco Meraki

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Cisco Meraki
Company typeDivision
IndustryNetworking, IT
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006) in Mountain View, California, U.S.
Founders
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people
Chris Stori (SVP, GM)
Bret Hull (CTO)
ParentCisco Systems
Websitemeraki.cisco.com

Cisco Meraki is a cloud-managed IT company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Their products include wireless, switching, security, enterprise mobility management (EMM) and security cameras, all centrally managed from the web. Meraki was acquired by Cisco Systems in December 2012.[1]

History[edit]

Meraki was founded by Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket, along with Hans Robertson. The company was based in part on the MIT Roofnet project, an experimental 802.11b/g mesh network developed by the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Meraki was funded by Google and Sequoia Capital. The organization started in Mountain View, California, in 2006, before relocating to San Francisco. Meraki employed people who worked on the MIT Roofnet project.[2][3][4]

In 2007, Meraki selected San Francisco for their community-based Free the Net campaign.[why?] They started putting gateway devices in the Lower Haight neighborhood to provide Internet access and giving away repeaters. In the first year of the project, the growth of the network was primarily in the Mission District. By October 2007, they estimated 20,000 distinct users connected and about 5 terabytes of data transferred in this network. In July 2008, Meraki said 100,000 people in San Francisco used its "Free the Net" service. Since then, Meraki discontinued this public service, though many access points remain active, but with no connection to the Internet.

On November 18, 2012, Cisco Systems announced it would acquire Meraki for an estimated $1.2 billion.[1]

Products[edit]

Access Points (MR)[edit]

Table of Meraki MR Access Points
Model Indoor/Outdoor Wifi Capability Ethernet Architecture System-on-Chip CPU Speed Flash-Chip Flash Size Ram Size Wireless chip End of Support
MR11 Indoor Aug 30, 2017
MR12 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11n (2.4 GHz) Gigabit MIPS Atheros (AR7242/7241) 400 MHz Macronix 16MB 64MB AR9283-AL1A Oct 24, 2022
MR14 Indoor Aug 30, 2017
MR16 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11n Gigabit MIPS Atheros AR7161-BC1A 680 MHz Macronix 16MiB 64MB AR9283-AL1A May 31, 2021
MR18 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11n Gigabit MIPS Qualcomm QCA9557-AT4A 720 Hynix 128MiB (NAND) 128MB SoC AR9550 + 2x Atheros AR9582-AR1A Mar 31, 2024
MR20 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit
MR24 Indoor 3x3:3 802.11n Gigabit May 31, 2021
MR30H Indoor, In-room hotel or dormitory deployments 2x2:2 802.11ac Gigabit July 26, 2027
MR32 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11ac Gigabit Mar 31, 2024
MR33 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit ARMv7 Qualcomm IPQ4029 716 MHz Spansion S34ML01G200TFV00 128MiB 256MB Qualcomm QCA9887 Jul 21, 2026
MR34 Indoor 3x3:3 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit Oct 31, 2023
MR36 Indoor 2x2:2 802.11ax Gigabit Qualcomm IPQ8070A 1.0 GHz
MR36H Indoor, In-room hotel or dormitory deployments 2x2:2 802.11ax Gigabit
MR42 Indoor 3x3:3 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit Jul 21, 2026
MR44 Indoor 2.5Gig
MR45 Indoor 4x4:4 802.11ax 2.5Gig
MR46 Indoor 4x4:4 802.11ax 2.5Gig
MR52 Indoor 4x4:4 802.11ac Wave 2 2 x Gigabit Jul 21, 2026
MR53 Indoor 4x4:4 802.11ac Wave 2 2.5Gig+Gigabit
MR55 Indoor 8x8:8 802.11ax 5Gig Aug 1, 2028
MR56 Indoor 8x8:8 802.11ax 5Gig
MR57 Indoor 4x4:4 802.11ax 2,4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz (Wi-Fi 6E) 2 x 5Gig
MR58 Outdoor Oct 30, 2017
MR66 Outdoor 2x2:2 802.11n Gigabit Jun 9, 2024
MR70 Outdoor 2x2:2 802.11n Gigabit
MR72 Outdoor 2x2:2 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit Apr 30, 2024
MR74 Outdoor 2x2:2 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit Jul 21, 2026
MR76 Outdoor 2x2:2 802.11ax Gigabit
MR84 Outdoor 4x4:4 802.11ac Wave 2 2.5Gig+Gigabit Jul 21, 2026
MR86 Outdoor 4x4:4 802.11ax 5Gig

Switches (MS)[edit]

Series[5] Deployment type Interfaces Uplinks PoE capabilities Power configuration Stacking capabilities Routing capabilities Models
MS120-8 Compact 8 x 1GbE RJ45 2 x 1GbE SFP

Fixed

67W (LP model)

124W (FP model)

External PSU (non-PoE, LP model)

Internal (FP Model)

Virtual only DHCP Relay MS120-8-HW

MS120-8LP-HW

MS120-8FP-HW

MS225 Branch & small campus 24 / 48 x 1GbE RJ45 4 x SFP+

Fixed

370W (LP model)

740W (FP model)

Internal Yes, 80G physical + virtual DHCP Relay MS225-24-HW

MS225-24P-HW MS225-48-HW MS225-48LP-HW MS225-48FP-HW

MS355 Branch & small campus 24 / 48 x 1GbE RJ45

8 x XGbE RJ45 (24X only)

2 × 40G (QSFP+)

Fixed

740W (24 port, X2 models)

740W (48 port, X2 models)

Removable PSU 400G physical +

virtual

Static + Dynamic

DHCP Server + Relay

MS355-24-HW

MS355-24X-HW

MS355-48-HW

MS355-48X-HW

MS355-48X2-HW

MS390 High-performance campus & branch 24 / 48 x 1GbE RJ45

24 / 48x XGbE RJ45 (in select models)*

4/8 x 10GbE SFP+

2 x 40GbE QSFP

Modular

830W (24 port models)

822W (48 port models)

Removable PSU Compatible only with MS390

480G physical +

virtual

Static + Dynamic

DHCP Server + Relay

MS390-24-HW

MS390-24P-HW

MS390-24U-HW

MS390-24UX-HW

MS390-48-HW

MS390-48P-HW

MS390-48U-HW

MS390-48UX-HW

MS390-48UX2-HW

MS450 10G fiber aggregation 12x 40GbE QSFP+ 2 x 100GbE QSFP28 N/A Modular

Redundant PSU optional (sold

separately)

Front-port 160G + virtual Static + Dynamic

DHCP Server + Relay

Warm spare (VRRP)

MS450-12-HW

Security Appliances (MX)[edit]

Table of Meraki MX Security Appliances
Model Wifi Model Interfaces Stateful Firewall Throughput Architecture CPU Speed End of Sale End of support
Z1[6] Yes 5 x GbE 50 Mbit/s
Z3[7] Yes 5 x GbE 100 Mbit/s
MX60[8] MX60W 5 x GbE 100 Mbit/s
MX64[9] MX64W WAN: 1 x GbE RJ45

LAN: 4 x GbE RJ45

250 Mbit/s July 26, 2022 July 26, 2027
MX65 MX65W WAN: 2 x GbE RJ45

LAN: 10 x GbE RJ45

250 Mbit/s May 28, 2019 May 28, 2026
MX67 MX67W
MX68 MX68W
MX75 N/A WAN: 2 x GbE RJ45 1 x SFP

LAN: 10 x GbE RJ45 (2 x PoE)

1 Gbit/s
MX80 N/A 5 x GbE 250 Mbit/s Aug 30, 2016 Aug 30, 2023
MX84 N/A 5 x GbE 500 Mbit/s Oct 31, 2021 Oct 31, 2026
MX85 N/A WAN: 2 x GbE RJ45 2 x SFP

LAN: 8 x GbE RJ45 2 x SFP

1000 Mbit/s Oct 31, 2021 Oct 31, 2026
MX90 N/A 9 x GbE, 2 x GbE (SFP) 500 Mbit/s
MX95 N/A WAN: 2 x 2.5GbE RJ45 2 x SFP+

LAN: 4 x GbE RJ45 2 x SFP+

2 Gbit/s
MX100 N/A 9 x GbE, 2 x GbE (SFP) 750 Mbit/s Feb 1, 2022 Feb 1, 2027
MX105 N/A WAN: 2 x 2.5GbE RJ45 2 x SFP+

LAN: 4 x GbE RJ45 2 x SFP+

3 Gbit/s
MX250 N/A WAN: 2 x 10GbE (SFP+)

LAN: 8 x GbE (RJ45), 8 x GbE (SFP), 8 x 10GbE (SFP+)

4 Gbit/s
MX400 N/A 8 x GbE (RJ45), 8 GbE (SFP), 4 x 10GbE (SFP+) 1 Gbit/s May 20, 2018 May 20, 2025
MX450 N/A 6 Gbit/s
MX600 N/A 8 x GbE (RJ45), 8 GbE (SFP), 4 x 10GbE (SFP+) 2 Gbit/s May 20, 2018 May 20, 2025

Customer data loss incident[edit]

On August 3, 2017, the engineering team made changes to the North American object storage service; the change caused some deletion of customer data. Cisco stated that the change was due to the application of "an erroneous policy". The data loss mostly affected media files uploaded by customers. Lost data included:

  • Systems Manager – Custom enterprise apps and contact images.
  • Meraki Communications – IVR audio files, hold music, contact images and VM greetings.
  • Wireless Device Dashboard – Custom floor plans, device placement photos, custom logos used for interface branding and reports and custom splash themes.

On August 7 Meraki announced that some data on the cache service could be recovered. On August 9 customers were informed that recovery efforts were still underway but that they "do not expect to be able to recover most assets".[10][11][12][13][14]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Constine, Josh (18 November 2012). "Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  2. ^ "Sequoia – Companies". Sequoia Capital. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  3. ^ Fehrenbacher, Katie (2006-08-02). "Meraki Cooks Up Wireless Mesh Router". gigaom.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  4. ^ Goodin, Dan (15 August 2007). "Google-Funded startup to offer free WiFi in San Francisco". The Register. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Meraki MS Series Switches Family Datasheet". Meraki MS Series Switches Family Datasheet. 17 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Cisco Meraki Z1 Datasheet" (PDF). Cisco Meraki. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Meraki Z-Series Datasheet" (PDF). Cisco Meraki. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  8. ^ "MX Cloud Managed Security Appliance Series Datasheet" (PDF). Cisco Meraki. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Meraki MX Cloud-Managed Security and SD-WAN Datasheet" (PDF). Cisco Meraki. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  10. ^ "North American Object Storage Service Impact". Cisco Meraki. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  11. ^ "Cisco Meraki suffers data loss caused by human error". The Stack. 7 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2019 – via Techerati.
  12. ^ Marzouk, Zach (7 August 2017). "Cisco Meraki loses customer data in engineering gaffe". CloudPro. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  13. ^ Hardcastle, Jessica Lyons (7 August 2017). "Cisco Meraki Data Loss Reveals Need for Oversight". SDX Central. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  14. ^ Sharwood, Simon (6 August 2017). "Cisco loses customer data in Meraki cloud muckup". The Register. Retrieved 10 April 2019.

External links[edit]