30 September 2011

Benetton looks to benefit from new cloud-based wireless network


Meraki distributor highlights early adopter for UK launch

Benetton is one of the first UK reference customers for a new cloud-based wireless large area network (LAN) infrastructure offering.
The retailer's flagship Regent Street front and back office store operations, as well as its UK head office nearby, have been fitted with Meraki MR14 dual-radio 802.11n wireless access points (APs).
The APs bring the benefits of cloud networking to the enterprise by delivering easy-to-use wireless connectivity with central web-based administration and management the, doing away with the additional requirement for physical WLAN controllers on site.
That's according to Scott Dobson, founder and managing director of Cloud Distribution, the exclusive value-added distributor for Meraki in the UK.
"Meraki puts all the networking intelligence into the cloud so all the end user needs to deploy is the access point," he said. "This means there is no need for technical staff to maintain the wireless network in-store. And, with no controller, the solution is typically half the cost to buy of traditional WLAN kit."
In addition the provisioning, managing and monitoring can all be managed centrally by the network administrator from any internet-connected device, anywhere, he added.

Meraki Rated “Promising” in Leading Industry Analyst Firm’s MarketScope for Wireless LAN Intrusion Prevention (WIPS) Systems

Meraki, the leader in cloud networking, today announced that it has been rated “Promising” by Gartner Inc. in the 2011 MarketScope for Wireless LAN Intrusion Prevention Systems:

This MarketScope analyzes the performance of vendors that have focused on the WLAN IPS market from the second half of 2010 through the first half of 2011. Gartner’s evaluation is based on (in order of importance) continuing discussions with Gartner clients that are using and evaluating these products, survey responses from the vendors, and interviews with reference customers that were provided by the vendors. The ratings shown quantify Gartner’s opinions of each vendor’s performance in the market and should be used as just one input in your buying decisions.

Gartner “MarketScope for Wireless LAN Intrusion Prevention Systems,” John Girard, John Pescatore, and Tim Zimmerman, July 12, 2011.

Indeed, by integrating WIPS functionality seamlessly into its cloud controlled wireless LAN, Meraki provides a highly secure wireless environment out of the box. Built-in security features include:
Two-factor authentication
Third party security audits: penetration testing, PCI compliance, SAS-70 Type II datacenter audits
Rogue AP detection, classification, and alerts
Stateful policy firewall with LAN isolation and identity-based policies
Layer 7 application firewall to block unwanted apps

Design Within Reach, a leading furniture retailer, recently deployed Meraki’s Cloud Networking solution across its 50 retail stores, warehouses, and headquarters. The deployment succeeded in preparing the network for iPads and guest WiFi, while maintaining security standards necessary in a retail environment. “While DWR extends connectivity to our customers, we must maintain strict PCI compliance,” said Roger Mueller, Director of I.T. at Design Within Reach. “Meraki gives us powerful new tools to provide the security, capacity, and management that we need in a premium retail environment.”

Meraki’s cloud platform delivers features like two-factor authentication and daily third-party security audits that are not feasible in traditional architectures. Meraki’s out-of-band control plane provides the benefits of the cloud while maintaining PCI and HIPAA compliance. Meraki includes complete wireless security at no additional cost, with no extra hardware or software licenses to purchase. Meraki also integrates seamlessly with third-party WIDS/WIPS systems.

About Meraki
Meraki is the recognized leader in Cloud Networking. 100% cloud-based from day one, Meraki’s architecture delivers out-of-the-box security, scalability, and management to enterprise networks. Meraki has been deployed in over 18,000 customer networks worldwide, including Stanford University, British Telecom, Burger King, Starbucks, and M.I.T. Meraki is located in San Francisco, California, and is funded in part by Sequoia Capital and Google. For more information, visit http://meraki.com.

About the MarketScope
The MarketScope is copyrighted 2011 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

28 September 2011

Renton School District Selects Meraki for Nation’s First Campus-Wide 3-stream 802.11n Network

Meraki, the Leader in Cloud Networking, today announced that Renton School District selected Meraki’s MR24 cloud controlled wireless access points to provide enterprise-class WiFi to Renton’s 16,000 students, faculty and staff. The Renton School District deployment covers 28 sites, including elementary, middle and high schools, the district office, facilities, and the football stadium. Renton is the first school district in the nation to adopt the latest generation of 802.11n WiFi, featuring 3-stream, 900 Mbps performance.

Meraki’s high performance MR24 access points are centrally managed by the award-winning Meraki Enterprise Cloud Controller. “Meraki allows me to manage the network across the entire district, and I’m a team of one,” said Todd Baker, Network Administrator for Renton School District. “The capabilities of Meraki’s Cloud Controller are incredible. There’s one dashboard for everything, from provisioning APs to troubleshooting client issues. The ease of use and powerful tools greatly reduce my site visits.”

The Meraki MR24, an ultra high-performing 3-stream 802.11n access point, is ideal for dense classroom environments and high-bandwidth applications. Renton is rolling out 352 MR24s in a deployment totalling more than 415 Meraki access points. The campus-wide coverage supports Renton’s Computer on Wheels (COW) program, which provides classrooms with “COW carts” to stream video, data and other media.

Renton leveraged Meraki’s contract with the Washington Learning Source (WLS), which facilitates deployments for Washinton state school districts. Prior to selecting Meraki, Baker carefully evaluated a number of networking vendors. In a performance test of 2 finalists, the Meraki MR24 outperformed in WiFi range. Moreover, the ease of use and reliability of Meraki’s cloud controller impressed Baker. “I’ve had a controller go bad on me in the past. With Meraki’s cloud controller, I’ll never have to deal with that again,” Baker said.

In selecting Meraki, Renton School District saved $1 million, enabling it to invest in new classroom learning technologies. “This project was funded by our community from the 2008 voter approved Technology Levy,” said Stosh Morency, Director of Information Management Services. “Working with Meraki allowed the district to add wireless building-wide in 28 facilities and still finish $1 million under budget. These savings will fund additional technology in our classrooms helping keep our students ahead of the curve.”

About Meraki
Meraki is the leader in Cloud Networking. 100% cloud-based from day one, Meraki’s architecture delivers out-of-the-box security, scalability, and management to enterprise networks. Meraki has been deployed in over 18,000 customer networks worldwide, including Stanford University, British Telecom, Burger King, Starbucks, and M.I.T. Meraki was named a visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Wireless LAN, and won Techworld’s Wireless and Mobility Product of the Year. Meraki is located in San Francisco, California, and is funded in part by Sequoia Capital and Google. For more information, visit www.meraki.com.

About Renton School District
Renton School District educates students enrolled in its 23 elementary, middle and high schools in and around the city of Renton in King County, Washington. The award winning school district is at the frontier of technology implementation in accordance with its technology plan to promote and facilitate learning with emerging networking technologies.

14 September 2011

We Worry About Security So You Don’t Have To


Security concerns are so often top of mind for networking and cloud services in general. We’ve built our cloud-based networks with a focus on security since the beginning, and recently Gartner rated Meraki as “Promising” in the 2011 MarketScope for Wireless LAN Intrusion Prevention Systems:

This MarketScope analyzes the performance of vendors that have focused on the WLAN IPS market from the second half of 2010 through the first half of 2011. Gartner’s evaluation is based on (in order of importance) continuing discussions with Gartner clients that are using and evaluating these products, survey responses from the vendors, and interviews with reference customers that were provided by the vendors. The ratings shown quantify Gartner’s opinions of each vendor’s performance in the market and should be used as just one input in your buying decisions.

Gartner “MarketScope for Wireless LAN Intrusion Prevention Systems,” John Girard, John Pescatore, and Tim Zimmerman, July 12, 2011.

Beyond protecting your network using WIPS tools, don’t forget you can bolster the overall security of your wireless networks today by using some of the security features below. Just check a box to enable:
Account security tools
Account security tools
These tools supplement other built-in security features, such as the stateful policy firewall and https / secure connections, and they’re are completely integrated into our cloud-based architecture. That architecture also enables features that aren’t possible with traditional architectures, such as daily third-party security audits of our SAS 70 Type II hosted infrastructure.

Using these features, Meraki customers can easily maintain secure wireless environments in security-conscious deployments, for example in retail, healthcare, or financial services.

Leading furniture retailer Design Within Reach recently deployed Meraki’s Cloud Networking solution across its 47 retail stores, warehouses, and headquarters. The deployment succeeded in preparing the network for iPads and guest WiFi, while maintaining security standards necessary in a retail environment. “While DWR extends connectivity to our customers, we must maintain strict PCI compliance,” said Roger Mueller, Director of I.T. at Design Within Reach. “Meraki gives us powerful new tools to provide the security, capacity, and management that we need in a premium retail environment.”

Design Within Reach MyDeco application
Design Within Reach MyDeco application

Read the case study to learn more about how Design Within Reach uses wireless to increase customer engagement.

07 September 2011

Slow Down, Rather Than Ban Student Facebook Access

A story that ran this weekend in the NY Times about how students are getting around outright Facebook network blocks at school caught my attention. As kids prepare to return to their classrooms, it might be a good moment to reconsider whether such blocks are truly effective.

Yes, the notion of proxy servers has been around almost as long as the Web itself, and students can easily find the location of dozens of these services that are used to circumvent Facebook (and other objectionable content). It takes about a minute to type in a Google search and load up your URL in their handy forms and off you go, block or no block. Certainly, some network admins are more diligent about blocking these proxy sites, but given the number of them, it is a losing battle.

I know something about this first-hand, having taught a high school networking class back in 2001-2. Back then, we had hard-wired PCs in our networked classroom, and few of the kids had their own laptops. It was a very simple matter to walk around the lab and pull the Ethernet plug out of anyone's computer who was surfing somewhere they shouldn't, and after a while, the mere threat of pulling the plug was enough to increase peer pressure to stick to the day's instruction. But now we have universal Wi-Fi and more kids toting laptops, so what can you do?

The best advice isn't to block, but to slow things down. Many network admins that I have spoken to over the years use some kind of WAN optimization/firewall appliance to detect these destinations such as Facebook and AIM and allow access, just very slow access. You can dial down the speed to specific sites and protocols, and make it something that will take just long enough that most kids will tire of waiting for the page to reload, and move on to their legit studies.

We covered these WAN optimization and control technologies in our story here.

05 September 2011

Manhattan’s Bryant Park Selects Meraki to Provide Free Public WiFi

Meraki, the leader in Cloud Networking, has announced the deployment of Meraki’s wireless LAN solution throughout Bryant Park in Manhattan. Bryant Park Corporation’s network provider, Sky-Packets, deployed Meraki to provide free WiFi throughout the 9.6-acre park for all visitors.

The award-winning Bryant Park, located on 6th Avenue between 40th and 42nd, includes the longest expanse of grass in Manhattan south of Central Park and is a prime New York City destination for locals and tourists alike. Daily attendance counts often exceed 800 people per acre, making it the most densely occupied urban park in the world.

Bryant Park has offered free WiFi since 2002. But the explosion of demand for wireless Internet access caused by the proliferation of tablets, smartphones, and laptops necessitated an upgrade. Bryant Park Corporation selected Meraki for a more robust solution that would support heavy usage and provide better management and reporting.

“Bryant Park was one of the first to offer free WiFi in the city,” explained Henry Quintin, CEO of Sky-Packets. “Their 2002 network set a standard for WiFi at the time, and many people took advantage of the free service. As new WiFi devices became popular and the demand for the network escalated, it was clear that the existing infrastructure needed a change. By implementing a Meraki wireless mesh solution, we have been able to increase coverage, capacity, and throughput throughout the Park. Bryant Park has once again set the standard for free public Wi-Fi access.”

George Townley, Director of Information Systems for Bryant Park Corporation, confirmed that new mobile devices are having a huge impact.

“We used to see a lot of laptops in the park, but now it has shifted to smart phones and iPads,” he said. “Usage is going up astronomically.”

Since the Meraki deployment, the Bryant Park network averages over 20,000 distinct clients per month. Monday night movie nights are particularly crowded, with nearly 2000 users on the network. During such busy periods, Townley utilizes Meraki’s built-in layer seven application traffic shaping to maintain quality of service for everyone.

“The very fact that we have that level of control with Meraki is great,” Townley said.

DNA Info recently named Bryant Park one of the best hotspots in the city, and Townley says users are delighted with the new network.

“We follow the Twitter feeds, and in the past we would only see comments if the WiFi was down or slow,” he said. “But since we put in Meraki, all the feedback seems to be positive.”