Solution Comparison | Cisco Meraki Wireless
Cisco 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 Cisco Meraki?
Trusted by thousands of customers worldwide
Cisco Systems, Inc. | 500 Terry A. Francois Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94158 | (415) 432-1000 | [email protected]
Deep Visibility and ControlOnlyCiscoMerakigivesyoupowerful,built-inLayer7applicationvisibilityanddevicefingerprintingfordeepinsightandfine-grainedcontrolofyournetwork.
Cisco 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.
Cisco Systems, Inc. | 500 Terry A. Francois Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94158 | (415) 432-1000 | [email protected]
ConsiderCiscoMeraki’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.
Cisco Meraki makes it easy to configure secure, isolated guest WiFi access.
Configuring isolated guest access in Hive Manager involves several steps.
CiscoMerakibringsyouthemostaccessible,straightforwardmanagementexperiencepossible–includingapowerful,intuitivedashboardthatletsyoucontrolyourentireMerakinetworkfromasinglepaneofglass.Itseasilynavigabledesignallowsforrapiddeploymentsofnetworksanddeviceswithfewerconfigurationerrorsandeasierongoingmaintenance.
Thebenefitofthisintuitiveinterfacegrowsasyournetworksexpandinsizeandgeographicscope,andasthesheernumberofconfigurationsettings(andthestepstoimplementthem)swellwithcompetitivesolutions.
Intuitive, No Training NeededCiscoMerakiMRaccesspointsaremanagedviaasecure,cloud-baseddashboardcreatedfromthegroundupforeaseofmanagementandconfigurability.
Consider the example below: creating an isolated wireless guest SSID.
Cisco Systems, Inc. | 500 Terry A. Francois Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94158 | (415) 432-1000 | [email protected]
Alvin ISD chose Cisco Meraki over HP and Aruba.
CASE STUDY
AlvinIndependentSchoolDistrictAlvinISDselectedCiscoMerakioverArubaandHPtobeitswirelessinfrastructureprovider.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
CiscoMerakiwaschosenastheWiFisolutionforUnitedColorsofBenetton’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
Cisco Systems, Inc. | 500 Terry A. Francois Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94158 | (415) 432-1000 | [email protected]
Cisco 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.cisco.com/evalAllgearavailablefortrial.Noshippingcosts.
Feature Comparison
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