Cisco Meraki Brings Value and Quality
May 05, 2021

Cisco Meraki Brings Value and Quality

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • MX64
  • MX100

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Meraki MX

My organization has started using the Cisco MX series products as our firewall of choice at all locations. Our largest locations utilize the 100, while the small offices use the 64. These have been used to create a uniform site-to-site operation that works well when communicating between our main location and all additional field offices. The 100 that is located at our main location also acts as the gateway for all individual VPN connections as well.

  • Site-to-Site VPN
  • End-user VPN
  • Network control
  • Security
  • Cloud integration
  • Permission management
  • Licensing
  • Site-to-Site VPN
  • Cloud management of all organization firewalls
  • Ease of control for System Admins
The Cisco Meraki MX series has created a simplified approach to the management of our network infrastructure. It has created an environment where it is very easy for our system administration staff to administer and edit the configuration from one or all firewalls at a time. Being able to swap out units where necessary has become easy and the configuration platform for the management of all network clients has now been centralized based on the way we can easily link our networks in a simplified fashion.
Being able to create a unified network with the Meraki product line has allowed for almost a "set it and forget it," approach to the management of our IT infrastructure. Building out the Meraki technology stack has allowed us to have a full visualization of our network from the client level out to the firewall. This is not something we could envision before implementing the entire stack. The management of our clients has also improved immensely as has our VPN structure and management.
The scalability of the Meraki stack has provided for a seamless transition across our organization, from integrating not only switches but also wireless access points. Because of the Meraki cloud management, we have been able to ship MX64s off to temporary offices and had them pre-programmed. This has made it easy for us to set up remote operations without the need to have technicians on-site.
When comparing the Cisco Meraki line to other products it became nearly an incomparable argument. While Fortinet and SonicWall were very comparable to the Meraki MX series, there were just too many tangible and intangible factors that led to us choosing Meraki. The biggest deciding factor was the cloud management of Cisco products that was that much more reliable compared to the other products. A negative against Meraki though is its yearly licensing costs which are significantly higher than its counterparts.
The Cisco MX series firewalls provide a high-quality product for small and mid-sized businesses. Its ease of use and GUI also are helpful for organizations where you don't have a certified CCNA expert on-site. The cloud management of the devices also provides a significant means for managing all locations from one centralized location with an easy process for swapping put units if ever necessary.

Cisco Meraki MX Feature Ratings

Identification Technologies
8
Visualization Tools
10
Content Inspection
6
Policy-based Controls
9
Active Directory and LDAP
9
Firewall Management Console
10
Reporting and Logging
7
VPN
10
High Availability
7
Stateful Inspection
8
Proxy Server
8