Meraki Wireless Solution Comparison

Simplified cloud management

• Intuitiveinterfaceallowsdevicestobeconfiguredinminuteswithouttrainingordedicatedstaff

• CentrallymanagethousandsofdevicesacrosshundredsofsiteswithoutonsiteIT

• Out-of-the-boxsecuritywithintegratedapplicationfirewall,WIPS,NetworkAccessControl(NAC),PCIcompliance,andVPN

• Updatesandnewfeaturesseamlesslydeliveredfromthecloud

Performance and scalability

• Powerful,enterpriseclassradioscombineMIMO,transmitbeamforming,bandsteering,spectrumanalysis,andautomaticcloud-basedRFoptimizationforhighdensityperformanceandthroughputupto900Mbps

• Easilyscalenetworksfrom10accesspointsto10,000withoutcontrollerthroughputorclientAPlimits,complexlicensing,orspecialappliancestoinstall

Deep visibility and control

• Network-widevisibility,control,andtroubleshootingofwirelessandwiredinfrastructurefromasinglepaneofglass

• Identifyusersanddeviceswithfast,Google-likesearch

• Createapplication-specificpolicieswithLayer7trafficshaping,andapplybydevicetypeorusergroup

• IntegratedmobiledevicemanagementextendsvisibilityandcontroltodevicesconnectingtoyourWLAN(iOS,Android,Mac,andPC)–atnocost

Why Meraki?

Trusted by thousands of customers worldwide

Meraki, Inc. | Free evaluation gear at meraki.com/eval2

Deep Visibility and ControlOnlyMerakigivesyoupowerful,built-inLayer7applicationvisibilityanddevicefingerprintingfordeepinsightandfine-grainedcontrolofyournetwork.

MerakiMeraki’sLayer7trafficshapinganddevicefingerprintingdeliveranunparalleledlevelofintegrated,out-of-the-boxcontroloverdevices,applications,andusersaccessingyournetwork.

Getdeepcontextualinsightthroughstatisticsandusagedatainordertocraftsecurityandtrafficshapingpolicies.

Analysisisperformedattheedgeinascalablearchitecture–noneedtopurchasecontrollersoradditionallicenses.

Comparison: ArubaTogetcomparable,centralizedL7visibilityandcontrol,Arubarequiresyoutobuy:

• AirWaveserver

• AirWavelicenses(basedonnumberofdevices)

• AirWavelicensetorunmultipleAirWaveserversfromsingleconsole(optional)

• WLANcontroller(7200series)

• PolicyEnforcementFirewallmodule

• PolicyEnforcementFirewalllicenses(basedonnumberofAPs)

AppRF,whichrequiresAruba’snewest,top-of-the-linecontroller,cannotthrottletrafficdynamically;itcanonlypermit,drop,log,reject,ortagtrafficforQoS.

With Meraki, view application usage statistics filtered by time period or SSID.

Setting Layer 3 and Layer 7 firewall policies with Meraki.

Specific destinations can be viewed in aggregate or by client.

Meraki, Inc. | Free evaluation gear at meraki.com/eval3

ConsiderMeraki’ssecure,isolatedwirelessguestaccessfunctionality,whichiseasilyenabled:

• EnableandnameaguestSSIDfromtheConfigure>SSIDspageintheMerakidashboard

• Select“NATMode:UseMerakiDHCP”toisolatetheguestSSIDfromthecoreWLANusingtheintegratedL3firewall

• (Optional)CopyguestnetworkconfigurationsettingstoadditionalnetworksfromtheOrganization>ConfigSyncpage

WithAerohive’sHiveManager,configuringsecure,isolatedguestaccessrequiresseveralsteps:

• Chooseanexisting(orcreateanew)networkpolicyinHiveManager(e.g.,Aerohive-Guest)

• CreateanewguestSSIDwithintheAerohive-Guestpolicychosenabove,andsaveit.

• CreateanewUserProfileassociatedwiththeAerohive-Guestpolicy,andnameit.

• Chooseauniqueattributepolicynumberforthenewuserprofile,alongwithaVLANnumber(e.g.VLAN8)

• Createanewnetworkobject,nameit(e.g.Guest-WiFi),andassignittoVLAN8.

• Next,selectadefaultDNSservicewiththesamenameasyourHive

• Select“GuestUse”asyournetworktype,configureyourdesiredisolatedguestIPsubnetsettings,andensureDHCPisenabled.Save.

Meraki makes it easy to configure secure, isolated guest WiFi access.

Configuring isolated guest access in Hive Manager involves several steps.

Merakibringsyouthemostaccessible,straightforwardmanagementexperiencepossible–includingapowerful,intuitivedashboardthatletsyoucontrolyourentireMerakinetworkfromasinglepaneofglass.Itseasilynavigabledesignallowsforrapiddeploymentsofnetworksanddeviceswithfewerconfigurationerrorsandeasierongoingmaintenance.

Thebenefitofthisintuitiveinterfacegrowsasyournetworksexpandinsizeandgeographicscope,andasthesheernumberofconfigurationsettings(andthestepstoimplementthem)swellwithcompetitivesolutions.

Intuitive, No Training NeededMerakiMRaccesspointsaremanagedviaasecure,cloud-baseddashboardcreatedfromthegroundupforeaseofmanagementandconfigurability.

Consider the example below: creating an isolated wireless guest SSID.

Meraki, Inc. | Free evaluation gear at meraki.com/eval4

Alvin ISD chose Meraki over HP and Aruba.

CASE STUDY

AlvinIndependentSchoolDistrict

AlvinISDselectedMerakioverArubaandHPtobeitswirelessinfrastructureprovider.BeyondMeraki’scosteffective,plug-and-playsolution,neitherArubanorHPprovidefree,built-inBYOD/MDMsolutions,intuitivedashboardinterfaces,innovativefeatureslikeintegratedL7trafficshapingandNAC,orcloudmanagement.

“I really think Meraki is the optimal solution for an environment with a high density of clients.”–JohnWilds,NetworkManager,AlvinISD

Challenges

• LargeAPdeploymentwithleanITstaff

• Highclientdensity,withentireclassroomsconnectingsimultaneously

• APsincloseproximitycannotinterferewitheachother

Results

• Easy,zero-touchAPconfigurationandinstallation

• Centralizedmanagementfor20campuses

• Cloud-basedRFoptimizationeliminatesinterferenceinhigh-densityclassrooms

CASE STUDY

UnitedColorsofBenetton

MerakiwaschosenastheWiFisolutionforUnitedColorsofBenetton’sHQandflagshipstoresintheUnitedKingdomforitseaseofuse,built-insecurityfeatures,andscalability.AnisolatedguestnetworkforretailstoreswascreatedintwoclicksusingMeraki’sintuitivedashboard,andiscentrallymanagedthroughthecloud.

Challenges

• ProvidesecureguestWiFiforretailshoppersandsecurewirelessLANforemployeesacrossmanylocations

• Centrallymanagedistributedretaillocations’WiFiwithleanITstaff

• RobustreportingalongwithautomaticperformancetuningofAPs

Results

• IsolatedguestnetworkwithsplashpagesonseparateSSIDfrominternal,WPA-securedwirelessLAN

• Singlepane-of-glasscontroloverretailstores’WiFi

• Summaryreportsandalertsprovidenetworkstatus;AutoRFoptimizesWiFiperformance

“With the Meraki dashboard we can see very clearly what types of devices are connecting. We’re looking to use this technology as another avenue to provide special offers and attract attention.”–MarkBishop,ITManager,UnitedColorsofBenetton

Meraki, Inc. | Free evaluation gear at meraki.com/eval5

Meraki Aruba Aerohive Ruckus HP

WPA-2Enterprisewith802.1Xauthentication

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Built-instatefulpolicyfirewall,WIPS,VPN

✓ ×1 ✓ ×2 ×2

IntegratedNAC ✓ × × × ×

MobileDeviceManagement(MDM)

✓ ×1 ×1 × ×1

Isolatedguestaccesswithsplashpages

✓ ×1 ✓ ×1 ×1

100%cloud-managed ✓ × ✓ × ×

Layer7applicationanddevicevisibilityacrossentireproductline

✓ ×1 × × ×

RFManagement ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

LiveToolsfortroubleshooting

✓ ×1 ✓ × ×1

IncludedSupport ✓ × × × ×

1 Availablewithpurchaseofadditionalsoftwareorlicense2WIPSavailablewithpurchaseofadditionalsoftwareorlicense3Multiplelicensesmaybenecessary,dependingonfeaturesdesired

Free evaluations available at meraki.com/evalAllgearavailablefortrial.Noshippingcosts.

Feature Comparison