What advice do you have for others considering Meraki SD-WAN?

We generally recommend Meraki because it is very simple. The configuration and all those things are very simple. If you have the technical knowledge, there is very little chance of making mistakes. Even I have given training to the L1 team, and they can handle it very well. We do not need highly skilled people to handle these devices. I would not recommend this tool to very large-scale organizations. I have not recommended it as of now. But for small and medium-sized organizations, where they do not have many transactions and have a strength of around 500 to 600, we recommend Meraki devices. Overall, I would rate it a ten out of ten.

I don't know how to explain how the tool's auto-VPN feature helps our company with operational efficiency. I don't remember any issues with the VPN feature associated with Cisco Meraki. When we tried integrating Meraki SD-WAN into our infrastructure, there were challenges. If the customer has another vendor's network, like an Aruba or Juniper network, the integration becomes complex because the engineer needs information about both the customer's network and the other vendor. The engineer needs to check if the configurations follow the same protocols, SSIDs, or VLANs. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

The solution needs around three to four administrators. Meraki SD-WAN enhances connectivity across various business locations, and our clients are satisfied with the tool. The solution can be used for multiple branches, connectivity, or small scale. Its implementation is also easy. We can use Meraki SD-WAN for security purposes. We can identify traffic problems and connectivity issues from the solution's single console dashboard. A health report is also available in Meraki. We can identify and troubleshoot more issues from the Meraki dashboard. I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Maintaining firmware can be challenging for a one-person operation managing nine different security appliances across nine sites. It allows me to schedule firmware updates for off-hours. If I forget, Cisco Meraki will push and schedule updates for me if the firmware nears its support expiration date. I can schedule upgrades through the portal after hours or in the middle of the night, and Meraki will handle the process. If I need to make changes, I can view all my devices using the centralized portal. I can define the configurations and then apply them to individual devices or replicate them across multiple devices. Once I push and save the configuration changes, they are distributed to all the devices within two to five minutes. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

We configured the VPN feature in our organization. It works well. I will recommend the solution. It is easy to use. Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten.

Meraki SD-WAN is one of the best and easiest solutions to implement. It's very user-friendly, making it simple for users and partners to sell and deploy. Additionally, it offers a range of security features and the ability to integrate with SaaS platforms. However, compared to other vendors, it lacks some important features, and although they're on the roadmap, they're taking a bit longer to roll out. The product is successful in various environments, especially in retail and specific industries like finance. Retail accounts for around 30 percent of its usage. I would rate the Meraki SD-WAN a nine on a scale of one to ten. It's simple to use, scalable and offers easy access to the API. However, it's not a perfect ten because it lacks some important features, and it is slow in terms of rolling out these features for customers.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten for our use case. For a bank's use case, they might rate it a two, but for small businesses and schools, it's about an eight out of ten.

Meraki SD-WAN is a combination of two products: Firewall and router. When you compare these options with other vendors, you will not find the same as Meraki. Meraki is best for small and medium business solutions. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I believe Cisco offers some of the best solutions. Meraki's routers, switches, and wireless solutions are some of the best. You need an open platform to work with Meraki SD-WAN, whereas Aruba can be a bit more complex. That's why Cisco Meraki SD-WAN is generally preferred. Overall, I rate this solution a nine out of ten.

When it comes to giving advice to other people looking into this solution, I'd just say that this system is easy to maintain and quite secure with good quality equipment. I would rate this solution as a whole a nine, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I recommend the solution but would like it to provide better optimization. If it does, then the solution would be considered an absolute star product. I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I think Meraki SD-WAN is good for five hundred end users or smaller. If they are larger than this I would recommend other solutions for enterprise scenarios. I would rate Meraki SD-WAN an eight on a scale of one to ten.

In my professional network, when people ask me about which brand of switches to use, Meraki SD-WAN is always the first recommendation. However, the final decision often comes down to budget. If a customer has the budget for Meraki SD-WAN, I recommend it, but if budget is a concern, there are other brands that can be considered. I rate Meraki SD-WAN a nine out of ten

I would rate this solution as eight out of ten. For a larger enterprise level customer, I would recommend the MX450 or MX400 series.

If you run VoIP, I would ask what the failover time is from the primary to the secondary uplink on the WAN side?

Fiew points about MX:

1. Better to proceed with 5yr license 

2.Purchase advance license 

3.Select one category more advanced model than the current needs (bandwidth limitation, vpn users, etc..) 

4.Superior UI

5.Innovative product

6.Direct support with Cisco

Overall rate  out 9 of 10

Personally I think Meraki’s SD-WAN is the easiest to manage I’ve ever seen. Also very stable and reliable.

You can use this solution for SMB branches according to your requirements. At this time, you cannot use Meraki on a single device, so suppose you have a core suite, distribution suite, and access suite. If you're a data center, you cannot use the solution at this point. I would rate this solution as an eight out of ten. It is very user-friendly, and it doesn't take much time to configure the simple dashboard.

We are partners. We use the MX64 deployment, although it goes all the way up to 300. I don't want to be Meraki biased, however, if anyone is looking for the kind of solution that can include the branch office or the network security or even a Cisco Umbrella kind of solution, Meraki is the right choice. From an SD-WAN perspective, I would rate the solution seven out of ten. I'm just cutting down three numbers due to the lacking of cloud networking and the weaker security posture.

I would recommend Meraki SD-WAN to those who have multiple sites across several different geographical locations and to those who really want to connect their branch offices, their depos, their factories, etc. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Meraki SD-WAN at nine.

We deal with a reseller. We have 58 different networks. However, none of them has a particular server. We're using it to interconnect. We're using it all over the state. I'd advise potential new users to understand the costs that are likely involved first. I would rate the solution nine out of ten.

I would rate Meraki SD-WAN a nine out of ten.

I take this solution 10 out of 10.

I would rate it a nine out of ten.

Meraki SD-WAN is a perfect fit for those customers who want to implement SD-WAN with competitive pricing. There is not much demand when it comes to complexity and additional features. If customers want a standard SD-WAN solution, Meraki SD-WAN is a perfect fit for those customers. I rate Meraki SD-WAN an eight out of ten.

This is a product that I recommend. My advice for anybody who is interested in this product is that if you want a simple to configure SD-WAN deployment that's easy to monitor and manage, Meraki is a good fit. That said, the price could always be better. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We've had some problems with deliveries and with a lack of clarity on the vendors' part about timescales, which has created problems between us and our customers. I think this solution is best suited for small-to-medium enterprises, but it's good for big companies too. I would rate it as eight out of ten.

Meraki is known as a lower-end SD-WAN solution. It has limitations from the hardware and the software perspective. They've gotten better over the years, but they were always viewed as a low-cost or entry type of product. They don't do a lot of the more sophisticated features and functionality of some of the other SD-WAN providers. From a customer perspective, it really depends on: * What are they looking for? * What are they concerned about? * Do they have any other products? * Are they using any other security mechanism and is it network-based or premise-based? It is just about what fits into their network and what they're currently using. I would advise having a good understanding of the physical requirements for the facility that it's being deployed. You should have a good understanding of what you need from a component perspective, such as extra switches or extra access points. That's probably the biggest thing. There are other products for which you may have to pay a little bit more, but they are going to be better performing, and they will give you better service. So, you need to understand, especially if you're going with a low-cost vendor, that you might end up having to pay more because you had to add more components to the solution. I would put it a little bit over halfway. I would rate it a six out of 10. It is certainly a good product. They have a lot of basic features and functionality. They can provide a good solution, but you may end up having to pay more than what you anticipated to get everything that you want because they don't include as much as some of the other vendors.

We use the solution both in our company and in those of our customers. I am very happy with the solution. Meraki is one of the innovative products. There are two people working with the product in our company. As I am not a technical person, I cannot comment on these aspects of the solution, although I can state that Viptela provides the depth and additional functions and features which Meraki SD-WAN lacks. The latter is more suited to the need to have just some basic pictures of SD-WAN. I rate Meraki SD-WAN as an eight out of ten.

I'd advise those considering the solution to first understand what they are buying before making the purchase. I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. As far as connectivity goes, Meraki does what it promises. However, it's basic connectivity.

I rate Meraki SD-WAN an eight out of ten.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Meraki SD-WAN a rating of eight. If they could do better on the performance side, that really would make a difference.

We are a customer and end-user. We have an SD-WAN technology that works on Cisco Meraki with MX appliances. Then we have a core appliance, from Core/Distribution and edge. These are all HP routers. We are using the latest version of the solution. We get automatic updates to the latest versions. While the solution is on-premises, it can be managed on the cloud. I would recommend the solution. I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

Meraki SD-WAN is better suited for customers who have small branches, who don't have secure data to be transferred. Meraki is not suitable for companies that require high security. I would rate Meraki SD-WAN a six out of ten.

I would rate Meraki SD-WAN an eight out of ten. It has everything I need. In the next release, they should have better control over file applications that could break into the network.

For others who are interested in using Meraki SD-WAN, I would suggest that they know the limitations of the two uplinks and that it is not a separate solution. It's included in what you have. You will not have the same dashboard as you would have with the Cisco SD-WAN, or VeloCloud, VersaStack, etc. For a free solution, I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Meraki SD-WAN a rating of ten — it's been working flawlessly for us.

When looking at this type of solution, there are several things to consider that are useful to know before you begin your research. One: you have to have an understanding of the existing network. That is crucial. If you do not understand the existing structure of the network, it will be difficult to be able to adapt it. If you are planning to move into an SD-WAN, you want to look at replicating the existing network structure. So, the first thing is how flexible the solution is in being able to adapt to your existing architecture. Secondly: you have to look at how simple it is going to be to manage. The GUI interface of the product that you choose should be well-designed so that it makes the product easy-to-use. Third: you will want to look at and be aware of the redundancy features that are available. If you are considering switching to an SD-WAN, one of the key things you need to look and have a solution for is what will happen in the event of a failure. You need to know how the system will handle it. Fourth: you have to know the physical devices that will be in those locations converting to SD-WAN and how resilient they are. The type of routing protocols that are supported is very important. If the kind of routing protocol is not properly supported or if they are proprietary then it becomes a big issue. Fifth: you also want to consider the manufacturing company and its product support. The support has to be very solid. If the support is not solid, then you might run into quite a number of issues. The more you engage the support, the better because they can grow their knowledge base and you can learn. Of course, a good thing about Meraki is that the support is solid. I can say that because we have had quite a number of issues and support has been able to rise up to the occasion each time. Also part of support is the documentation for use. This is also key because there will be instances that you have to go and look into the documentation to check on how to do things properly. You want to have a good resource where you can read up on some stuff and then be able to apply what you read so that it is not always necessary to look to support for help. Any time of the day, I will recommend this product. It is quite flexible. We have been able to put it to the test because we have a very complex network environment considering the number of sites. I mentioned I have 1,600 sites and globally we have 3,625 sites. Some applications are hosted centrally in the global data center and there are also layers upon layers of applications that are used in different countries based on the different business requirements and environments. Meraki has helped us to handle this efficiently. With Meraki, we have been able to simplify so many of those situations. For example, we have some locally hosted applications in some of the countries that require an IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) VPN tunnel for access. Without Meraki, it requires some third-party access or interaction with the locally hosted application. With Meraki, we can get away from this issue. Before using SD-WAN, we had to have too many hubs. This was the case whether the location was the global data center or a regional one. At some point, we ran out of public address space. With Meraki coming in, we have been able to sort that out. This is because we can do many-to-one mapping even if we have several applications hosted there. So with a many-to-one map, you can have as many services as you need of that one application on the same platform. The only distinguishing part will be the port you are communicating with and the remote IP. Using Meraki just solves a lot of problems. There was one problem we were having that we had to send to our solutions team. There was a lot of back and forth on details. Then while we were waiting someone on our team suggested that we could just use Meraki for resolving the issue. There is a Layer 7 feature that was able to help create the solution. So we used that and it was resolved. The solutions team came back again asking about the status of the issue and we just said that we had moved on because the problem was resolved. They were curious as to how we resolved the issue. We told them that we just used Meraki. They wanted to be sure that it was secure. Because of the way we implemented it, it was very secure. If I am going to look at the biggest lesson I have learned from using Meraki SD-WAN it is that you have to have an open mind as to what the product can achieve. Always believe in possibilities. Today, it is like a mantra that is being used across the organization. I recall when we started four years ago, no one was actually interested in what we were doing with Meraki. Then we encountered an issue that we needed to look into finding a solution for. The issue was that we did not want to start increasing bandwidth because increasing bandwidth on MPLS is crazy. You have to pay through the nose. We knew that there was going to be more demand from business operations because at that time we were planning to deploy SAP (Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing). There were also some demands from business operations that even the technical team at SAP said were not possible to achieve. I recall a meeting with my manager who told me that he brought me on to the team to look for and find a solution to the issue. He told me that even SAP said it was not possible to resolve. It appeared that it was a dead-end, but it was not really a dead end. It was an opportunity to bring on something new as a solution. People on the team were not sure whether we were going to be able to make it work. But somebody had to sit with it and try solutions to figure out a way to make it work. The first six months were not a lot of fun. We were trying quite a number of different things and nothing was resolving the issue. But gradually we were gaining a better understanding of the technology and how it works. We learned more about what we could do to make potential solutions fit better with the existing structure that we had. That type of exploration is key to understanding the way the platform works and how you can apply solutions to your existing environment. I tell people now that it is not just about deploying a network. It is about understanding the technology you are trying to introduce so you can see how it can add value to the existing environment. That way, as we invest in potential solutions we are not wasting any money. We are actually getting value for any investment in technology and platforms because they may provide a solution or a unique capability now or in the future. For me, finding a solution is about having an open mind. You have to say to yourself that nothing is impossible. Of course, there is the tenacity that you have to have in trying to create the solutions. If that is not there, the effort at resolving an issue is just smoke. It may take some weeks to create some solutions. But the good is that you find it is possible to learn new ways to solve problems. When you get that solution, you have learned something. If your effort brings about a solution or not, you have learned. When it brings about a solution, you are just glad that you could resolve the issue. Then you move on to the next problem. On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate Meraki SD-WAN so far as an eight-out-of-ten. I say that I rate it as an eight because there is room for improvement. There will be a time in the future where Meraki will have to face emerging technologies and find solutions to integrating with that technology. They may also have to find solutions to things that come up and meeting new needs that arise. Before now Meraki had OSPF (Open Shortest Path First). Today we have BGP. When BGP was first introduced to me, I tried it out and it obviously had some instability. Because of that, we have not ended up deploying the use of it widely. But a problem came up in a meeting after I was first working with it and I said "BGP is back." I was joking, but also thought there might be a possibility it could resolve the issue. One of my senior colleagues said that we were not ready to go back to trying to work with that yet. I was joking but it is always good to have an open mind to ways you might resolve an issue. Some day in the future a tool that did not work for one thing might work for another. So I would rate Meraki SD-WAN as an eight because there is still room for feature development and facing the future of emerging trends. Technology solutions are coming that will have to be integrated and addressed.

For medium-sized and larger enterprises, Meraki is a very good choice. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

The service provided by the solution is very good. I'd rate it eight out of ten.

Overall, this is a very good solution. I like products where you can deploy them and then go to sleep because they are watertight. It isn't going to give you headaches from support calls at 3:00 AM from a customer saying that the site is down. I definitely recommend that people look at the advantages of Meraki, and in particular, the Meraki SD-WAN because of the access to the cloud management interface. If you ever had a problem with SD-WAN then you do not have to drive to the corporate head office or use a VPN. You can always access the dashboard from anywhere, as long as you have the required privileges on the portal. The only complaints I have are about the port density and the pricing. They are doing a fantastic job, although there is always room for improvement. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

This is a fine product but there is always room for improvement. It is easy to manage and the user interface tells you when something is wrong, but there is always something that they can develop or integrate. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

My advice to other people considering this as a solution is that I would probably just recommend them the same server and set up that we have. It sort of depends on what the person or the business needs. There are questions about how much control over it that you want to have, how much you really need to be able to oversee everything, et cetera. In terms of security issues, I think it is wonderful to be able to actually see where the pitfalls of our infrastructure are and stuff like that. But my gut feeling is I think I would probably just recommend the same system as we have. But the problem with that is I also don't know how Fortinet works because I haven't tested and implemented it myself. It looked promising when we researched it two years ago. I don't know, maybe it is just as good as Meraki. From what I've seen from comparisons between the two, they seem to be similar in terms of usability and price. I could be mistaken about some of that. But I'm happy with what we have, so I can recommend our system as something that is working for us. On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Meraki SD-WAN, Software Defined Networking as an eight given the fact that I've only been working on it this short of time.

We are looking forward to using some of the features that we are currently testing in the beta. Some of these include data suppression options and an IPsec solution with IKEv2. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We use the public cloud deployment model. We're a Cisco partner. Due to its overall ease of use, I'd recommend the solution. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We use the cloud deployment model. Meraki is a cloud solution. I'd recommend the solution. I'd rate it eight out of ten.

We're a Cisco partner. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

The Meraki SD-WAN solution is simple to deploy. You have to plan well and look at creating policies and create your templates prior to the installation. What we found, was that while we were doing the implementation we were doing a lot of work. If we had planned before the actual implementation, then the entire rollout would have been much simpler. The setup is simple but it terms of deployment, it is better to create your policies and the planning needs to be done prior to the actual deployment. I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

The advice I would give to others considering implementing the solution would be to start small and be patient. I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.