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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/ACisco's Meraki MR Series is a wireless LAN solution.N/A

    FireMon

    Score7.9 out of 10
    Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
    FireMon is a real-time security policy management solution built for today’s complex multi-vendor, enterprise environments. Supporting the latest firewall and policy enforcement technologies spanning on-premises networks to the cloud, FireMon delivers visibility and control across the entire IT landscape to automate policy changes, meet compliance standards, to minimize policy-related risk. Since creating their policy management solution in 2004, FireMon states they've helped…N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsFireMon
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsFireMon
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsFireMon
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    FireMon
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    158 Answers
    94%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    145 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    161 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    140 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    153 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    15 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsFireMon
    Small Businesses
    WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
    Score9.1 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Cisco IOS Security
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsFireMon
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (176 ratings)
    7.9
    (69 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.5
    (7 ratings)
    6.8
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (12 ratings)
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (28 ratings)
    7.7
    (17 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.9
    (112 ratings)
    7.9
    (48 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsFireMon
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    There is no doubt that these access points are objectively some of the best in the industry. If you need reliability, stability, range, and something to "set and forget" these are an easy choice for those things alone. However, these are most appropriate in high demand, large environments where you can take advantage of the RF tuning, wireless stability, and overall robustness of the platform. Another important note is the SUPPORT as well. There are competitors that I won't mention that simply don't have the level of support and expertise for complex troubleshooting if you ever need it, and that alone counts as significant factor when considering the product too. Merak has that covered.
    To wrap up, the cost for large deployment makes far more sense than at a small operation where you need something like 5 APs in a small/medium office for basic Wi-Fi needs. That includes potential cost of time spent troubleshooting future network issues too by IT personnel.
    Read full review
    FireMon
    FireMon is best used in a large environment (for example, I have >100
    firewalls in my environment). It's best used when trying to improve
    security posture and showing changes in firewall security over time. It
    might not be the best choice for smaller environments or those that aren't concerned about security management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • It's cloud based, so as long as we have an internet connection, we can access it. Whenever we push a change, it's one stop like a single pane of glass to manage all our equipment. And so that's what I liked about it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    • Give good real time reporting for anyone making a change to any of our firewalls
    • Provides good reporting tools that are out of box
    • Provide good customization tools that is specific to our needs
    • Upgrades are a simple process and support does relatively well with assisting us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Internet connection dependency for management. Management is cloud-based, requiring a strong internet connection. Local management is not possible in the event of network problems or internet outages.
    • Limited in-depth configuration options. Some more detailed configuration settings are missing or difficult to configure, such as RF tuning and QoS. These are available in some other Cisco products.
    • License costs: an active license must always be present in the environment, otherwise the product won't work. It's easy to purchase, but if you're going to be expanding regularly, the costs will add up considerably. Ultimately, it's wise to factor this into your purchase.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    • Some features could be added to the existing functionality which include NAT rules usage
    • Rule expiration normalization from firewalls rather than entering them in rule documentation
    • .csv exports of the files from the firewall pane only gives usage for 30 days by default and that should be increased
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    It is a solution that works very well. It is almost like setup and forget, since the solution works. When issues occur, documentation is available with detailed steps on how to solve this problems you are facing, of course Technical Support is always ready to help. We have had instances where an Access Point fails and within 2 days we have the replacement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    The shell is locked out and we can't run any general centos commands. The implementation and maintainence of the arch is very complex. Even with the right identifiers on log messages the log collection keeps failing. The warning messages on the device are ambiguous. The log messages on firemon are a bit confusing and don't show the exact issue.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    To get basic functionality doesn't take long. Set up a new Meraki Dashboard activate the licenses and get internet connection for the APs and you are more or less done. The Dashboard will find your items and you're good to go.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    It save me time and I'm able to have the review - review the rule independently with using my time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    We have been deploying Meraki since last 8 years and even the first one deployed seems to be working fine till now!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    FireMon has been relatively stable overall. However, there have been a handful of times where we had issues with the console. For example, we couldn't update which devices to include in a security assessment. The initial suggestion from support was to just reboot it. It seems like there weren't many other options available such as to restart services before going to the extreme of a complete reboot.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    FireMon
    I'm not sure we have the largest implementation of FireMon out there but we do have a few 1000 devices being probed by FireMon. Overall, the system's performance has been rock solid. The console refreshes quickly and reports are generated within an expected timeframe.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    We have not had any issues with the Meraki WiFi Access Point hardware but we did encounter a problem with a Meraki LAN switch that failed to power up. Upon a email into the Meraki Support, they promptly called back and we went over some quick tests to determine a power supply problem. A replacement LAN switch was sent to me the next day.
    Read full review
    FireMon
    FireMon technical support is awesome! They respond quickly to our requests and they are well trained and very knowledgeable about the tool. Some issues have to be referred to the development team, but technical support largely provides solutions for any issues that we may have.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    There were documents that detailed how the WiFi Access Point was to be installed and mounted. The only issue was to cable the device, we use a third party for this type of work and typically has to be performed after normal business hours. Other than that, the installation was easy.
    Read full review
    FireMon
    Implementation is fairly simple. Most issues can be resolved by referencing manuals.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    The Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points fare really well against HPE Aruba AP. The cost difference is minimal on the hardware although things get more expensive on support and subscription cost (on going cost). Speed and throughput seems to be better on Cisco Meraki (user feedback and experience not technically measured). User connectivity is better with HPE Aruba primarily because of the Clearpass solution on top of its generic software management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    I has worked with AlgoSec and while they are very similar product, I find the FireMon is easier to understand and get rolling with. While both require some learning, FireMon is by far the easier one. Once you have an understanding of how things are arranged and labeled you can easily import firewalls and begin to work on them to improve them
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    As far as I know, it's 10. I mean, because like I said, I manage stuff in the south. I have coworkers that manage it in the north. And so the scalability of it to be able to be go in and see the configurations of the ones in the north as well as they can see in the south. So across the board, it works really well for how widespread out it is.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    Firemon Is easily scalable and maintainable with any size team. Although it requires some tech debt, it is well worth the time to invest to ensure compliance is visible and reports are accurate. Although our environment is very large we do not fully utilize the scalability of the Firemon product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Uptime has improved significantly. The dashboard automatically keeps devices up to date by scheduling upgrades at remote times (say 2am on a Sunday)
    • Swapping to Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points has reduced the management overhead. No more long controller software hardware upgrades and obviously no more need for beefy central controllers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FireMon
    • FireMon's Compliance Reporting provided an immediate and tangible benefit
    • FireMon helps identify egregious or erroneous rules quickly across multiple platforms
    • FireMon took our audit process from an Excel spreadsheet into a far more advanced process with readily available context for reviewers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points Screenshots

    Screenshot of MR57 Cisco Meraki Access Point