Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls is a combined UTM and Software-Defined WAN solution. Meraki is managed via the cloud, and provides core firewall services, including site-to-site VPN, plus network monitoring.
$595
per appliance
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Meraki SD-WAN is a software-defined WAN offering transport independence, application optimization, intelligent path control, and secure connectivity.
I would recommend [Cisco] Meraki MX devices for any environment and they will compete against any competitor well. Years ago I used Sonicwall and Watchguard firewalls to create Site - to - Site networks and they worked well on an individual scale.
The key to Cisco Meraki being the superior product is its ease of use and cloud managed portal. Although other products do offer more knobs, the simplistic design of the Meraki portal makes it easy for any user to integrate it into their new or existing networks. It really is a …
Meraki is well suited for businesses that have more than one location. This is because the site-site connection is seamless and makes connections on the corporation network quick and redundant. When you have more than 3 networks, they all connect to each other and can create more tunnels in case one goes offline
[Cisco] Meraki SD-WAN is ideal for scenarios where rapid deployment of sites in SD-WAN is required. The Retail sector is an ideal case. A scenario where [Cisco] Meraki SD-WAN is not so appropriate is when it is required to apply a more specific segmentation in the networks to be shared and when it is necessary to apply quality of service policies in a more specific way.
As we have it in place now, we will continue to keep it at our remote sites. Future expansion is something we are reviewing, and may well start with some of the larger switches as they seem to offer good performance and management at a reasonable price. Wireless is also something we're investing in and their devices are great for that.
The Cisco Meraki MX series is very easy to use. Setting up user VPN access, site to site VPN to tie multiple locations together and managing all your devices. You can even download the latest firmware and install without ever leaving the dashboard. Meraki is the very definition of easy to use
I haven't ever had a bad experience with Meraki support. On the few occasions where I wasn't understanding the UI or needed some clarification about what a setting actually would do, I contacted them and they were very quickly able to provide help. Returns are simple and fast, too. We had to return a defective device one time and they shipped the replacement before we had even un-racked the one that was faulty. Unlike many other vendors, they didn't ask use to a do long list of scripted diagnostics, they just took my word for it that the device was broken and sent out a replacement immediately
Fast and efficient. The only issue currently is that the support is only overseas support and not in South Africa, which causes delays in resolution for some cases. Escalating issues is quite simple and the opening of new cases from the dashboard is easy. I have never had a support issue that could not be resolved.
Cisco Meraki MX is a different product targeted at different markets, not exactly a UTM / NGFW. Centralized management and a single pane of glass add a lot of value. Again there are sites where no MX can replace a PA due to the configuration requirements and performance requirements but different target markets. Think high-end, better quality, light years better support UniFi.
We considered staying with MPLS over private circuits, but the cost was prohibitive. We also considered going with a more traditional VPN configuration using the ASA5500-X series for VPN head-end. The Meraki MX SD-WAN seemed a better all-around fit for a modern network.
Because it is cloud-managed there is little onsite support needed. Often departments are scattered across different regions but Cisco Meraki MX products don't care where someone is located. The software can be accessed anywhere making it simple to deal with changes and other issues that arise where you are located.
Once your template is set up Meraki is easy to scale. Even creating the template is easy and I was able to learn enough in 4 hours to build, test, and deploy templates for our locations. Best part is you can stage your deployment by adding a unit to a template even before taking it out of the box.
