Tech+ Blog: Bay Area IT Security & Consulting News
Reasons why Cisco Meraki equipment is great for small businesses
Mar 4, 2019
With a plethora of options available to businesses, the world of business networking and security has countless options and configurations from numerous, old and emerging brands to offer. Cisco is an industry juggernaut with products spanning all industries worldwide. Since Cisco acquired Meraki in 2012, their cloud-managed enterprise products have been very popular with small to medium sized businesses. This has allowed Meraki to further improve their powerful cloud platform and constantly introduce new features. Here are some reasons why Cisco Meraki is the right choice for small businesses:
1) Ease of use
The Meraki dashboard is an intuitive user-interface where all of your Meraki devices are easily accessible for both monitoring and configuration. Unified visibility and control of the entire network is displayed on a single dashboard that is available on all devices (desktop and mobile). The ease of the setup, configuration, and management of a Cisco Meraki network is one of the main reasons why Meraki is doing so well.
2) Security
Regardless of the size of your network, the sensitivity of the information being handled is, or even how much a company is worth. In today’s world, every network is a potential target for hackers. Cisco Meraki offers advanced malware protection, automatic intrusion detection and prevention, firewall rules based on geography, content filtering tools, and anti-virus and anti-phishing services. Meraki firewalls provide advanced security options, but the proprietary packet processing engine provides unmatched control of firewalls. These controls include blocking video streaming websites like Netflix or Hulu but still prioritize video conferencing tools and services. Typical firewalls can’t tell the difference between similar websites when filtering for website activities or behaviors, but a Cisco Meraki device sure can. Furthermore, Meraki firewalls make it easy to stay PCI and HIPAA compliant.
3) Design
Remember when Steve Jobs first unveiled the iPhone? The world was in awe of the product’s design. Product design isn’t just aesthetics (although to be fair, Meraki products are likely the most attractive enterprise networking products available), product design comes from the packaging, to the hardware, to the installation, to the user-interface, and finally to the overall user experience. Many cloud technologies emulate or live underneath legacy operating systems and programs, but Cisco Meraki was established with the cloud in mind, so the hardware and software work in harmony with the cloud engine. Also, the subtlety of Meraki hardware won’t make it an eye-sore if installed in a high-visibility area.
4) Future Proof
The Cisco Meraki cloud engine is the power platform that pushes all necessary updates to all devices automatically. The firmware updates are scheduled usually during the middle of the night and all cloud dashboard admins will receive notifications of any updates to be performed. This allows Meraki devices to always remain secure and function optimally.
Conclusion:
The days of command-line interfaces and on-site network controllers are over, and an outdated I.T infrastructure can no longer keep up with the requirements of modern organizations. Enter Cisco Meraki, the leader in cloud-managed I.T that provides countless solutions for enterprise and SMBs. Embracing cloud-managed I.T provides significant advantages to forward thinking business owners who want an infrastructure that is built to last.
Tech Plus Consulting is one of the Bay Area's largest Cisco Meraki Partners. We've been installing and configuring Meraki gear for years now.
