Cisco/Meraki Newly Unified Wireless Folks Talk at Mobility Field Day 10 #MFD10

Cisco Networking joined the Tech Field Day Mobility Field Day delegates in San Jose yesterday to talk about developments in the company’s wireless strategy from the BU perspective and to share thoughts on a range of discreet WLAN-related points.

It was a good session from where I sat. Cisco sent the right people, and they managed their time and content well while providing information on Company goings on and and food for thought about wireless support regardless of what vendor you use or think about using.

As a long-time customer of Meraki and Cisco products, I can say with confidence that the two product lines have long felt like not only different architectures but also that they are backed by different corporate cultures and degrees of… concern? apathy? making life easy on the customer? getting what you actually pay for?… not sure what I’m reaching for here, but the Cisco and Meraki sides have absolutely felt different through the years.

And now they have combined.

I’ve been in the wireless and networking game a long time now. Back in 2012, I wrote this lament, begging Cisco not to hose up the good thing I found in Meraki when Big bought Small. Thankfully, my fears back then never panned out and Meraki has been a fantastic branch solution for me in all the places I use them in the US and Europe- Meraki has been an unqualified grand slam in that role.

It’s obvious now that Cisco wants to take Meraki wireless to the places in their customer landscape they are yet to go. The dashboard has been opened up to even the 9800 controllers to some degree, and the long-running Catalyst nomenclature is now roaming the Meraki playa for better or worse.

I certainly understand somewhat where Cisco is trying go with this and why, and am actually a bit surprised they have been able to keep Cisco and Meraki wireless viable in two different buckets all this time. The current evolution and integration was inevitable. But I still have concerns.

To me, in the branches where I run full-stack Meraki, using this product set has meant very few bugs, high reliability, and almost a set-and-forget advantage to operation (as long as I did my part and designed the environment right). The Cisco side can’t be spoken of that praisingly, for me. I won’t go on a tirade about bugs and “smart” licenses, etc- it’s too early in the morning as I type this for that unpleasantness.

But I will go back to 2012 and again ask: Please, Cisco- don’t screw up Meraki as you do what you’re doing. I wish you the best and hope for success at the end of the transformation, but please leave the client-facing sins of the past from the Cisco side in the past.

See it all here: https://techfieldday.com/event/mfd10/