Welcome! Please introduce yourself. (March 2019 - February 2020)

[GOwens]

This is my first time on any kind of community board. I look forward to learning and hopefully contributing. 

I am the IT Director for a health clinic in Birmingham Alabama. We just purchased a complete new Meraki network form edge switches, AP's, Core switches and Firewalls, so we are building from the bottom up. 

I like old cars!

Glenn

[nuo]

Let us know if you have any questions!

[KhoaPham]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I work for a small Cisco partner called "Digital Works Network - DWN" located in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. We are the first company that bring Meraki to Vietnam (2009)

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I have been working with Meraki for 6 years

• A fun fact about yourself

Love music, can sing and play guitar 

[Iamsmiling]

I work for Newegg Business as a pre-sales engineer. I moved from operations to pre-sales several years ago and enjoy helping customers select the right tools for their jobs.

I have been offering Meraki to the appropriate customers for several years now and I think the only complaint I have heard was about the recent slow down in deliveries of some products. 

[lectern]

I'm Andrew and I work in the Information Systems department at a small private college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I assist in deploying and supporting our 3 MX, 68 MR and 15 MS devices, MDM and Client VPN.

I have undergraduate degrees in Physics and Physical Geography, but no formal IT training whatsoever.

[MannyM]

Manny Marks from FloSports.tv. Currently busy growing FloSports to the number one sports media network. For the last couple of decades I'm a Systems Administrator by discipline. The last few years I've been able to assume Network Admin responsibilities primarily due to the ease of use with Meraki products - Network by policy if you will.  Familiar with Cisco IOS, though my primary tool is Meraki Dashboard. With use of Dashboard I am able to deploy and maintain sixteen plus networks for FloSports. 

[Alan-Clark]

• A bit about yourself & your work - I have been in IT for over 20 years now, from hardware (building clone/DTK computers) to networking. I am the IT Director for an AB beer distribtor in the southern USA. 
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - Switched from Cisco WLC to Meraki close to 3 years ago. Main reason was, we are a small IT Dept. and have 7 locations all over the state. At that time, being able to manage wireless with ease was my main focus and Meraki gave me that. As EOL came due, I have replaced the Cisco switches with Meraki switches (L3 and L2) now using the camera's in our warehouses and the supervisors being able to monitor them from the office, home or on their phones have been meet with great response!
• A fun fact about yourself - I collect vinyl albums and have over 500 to date, add to it all the time. And I play a lot of golf!

[Phil7269]

I have worked with Cisco switches, routers and firewalls through the years and with my new position I am getting my first exposure to Meraki. Let me start by saying I couldnt believe how incredibly easy it is to establish a VPN between 2 sites with Meraki. After seeing this I am excited to start my journey with this product line. 

Looking forward to learning more and participating with the Meraki Community. 

[Lee_Trigg]

Hi, I work for a Finance Company - Thorn Group Financial Service (better known as DTR)

Have been in IT for 30 years. Pretty new to Meraki, have just completed rolling out to 24 sites nationwide.

Love the product, easy to manage, great visibility and learning something new every day

Fun Fact:

Love anything to do with motorbikes, and have a Jack Daniels themed Trike

Cheers

Lee 

[sgpawar]

Hello there Meraki commnunity!

• A bit about yourself & your work It's been almost 8 years now I am working in Networking domain. Currently I am working with Global Cloud Exchange.
  
• Your experience with Cisco MerakiIt's been almost a year since when I got introduced to Cisco Meraki. I got to know about this when our network design team decided to include Meraki devices while providing network solutions to the customer.
• A fun fact about yourselfApart from Networking I love bikes 🙂

[MRWallace49]

Hello,

My Name is Mike Wallace and I work for the US Army Directorate of Family and Moral, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR) as an Information Technology Specialist at Fort Irwin.  My specialty is Network and Servers and I currently maintain the Fort Irwin MWR ISP network.  We just received our first Meraki equipment and are looking at future purchases as our Cisco equipment goes out of life cycle.

I'm fairly new to the Meraki network but rebuilt the MWR ISP network from scratch about 5 years ago.  We expanded this network from supporting 3 buildings to now covering 25 buildings and counting.  

Fun Fact?  After 30 years in the IT business, I'm looking forward to retiring and taking up wood carving and wood working.  

[BAcheson]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Work for a manufacturing company in Mason OH as their Network Administrator

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Started using Meraki AP's before the Cisco acquisition and never looked back.  Now using Switches Camera's and AP's

• A fun fact about yourself

I like Soccer.

[Ttrottier]

A bit about yourself & your work

I have been a Network and Systems Admin for nearly 20 years, Working for School Districts and Municipalities.

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I have experience with routing and switching using Cisco Enterprise devices. Our Town is beginning a Network refresh, we will be moving to Meraki.

A fun fact about yourself

In my time out of work I enjoy the Outdoors.

[johnmays]

I work at Network Solutions. We install Meraki equipment and I work with some of the best people in the field.

I have been working with Meraki for a couple of years and really like the network model.

When I was 18 I took in a pc to tech shop and they said I put the cpu in wrong and I was lucky I did not burn up the chip. I think they replaced it for me.

Thank you

John M ays

[ShawnWillard]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • I am the systems administrator for a Lutheran Church and School, in Davenport, IA.  I have been working in IT for the last 25 years.  
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • I've been using Cisco Meraki for roughly four years all together. We started with a security appliance and have grown into a meraki exclusive environment for our network and security cameras.
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I am a World War II buff.

[MarkKC]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • I work at a library specializing in science, technology and engineering.  We have a great circulating collection, and a very strong collection of rare books for viewing in our reading room.  And a slate of speakers on science related topics each spring and fall.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • For several years we have had an active and warm spare Meraki firewall which have served us very well.  The daily report keeps us appraised of anything out of the ordinary and the admin interface is much appreciated.
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I have spent my whole IT career working at non-profits.

[mlane706]

My name is Mike Lane, and I have been working on learning Meraki Basics in order to start working on a consulting opportunity,

I keep seeing this ECMS1 (Engineering Cisco Meraki Solutions 1 course advertised. I registered twice and both times got a response that I was registered, then an email that my registration was being considered, then an email that I did not make it into the class. If the goal is to frustrate people interested in learning about Meraki, you have succeeded. I am going to take another avenue for training since this one apparently has some other objective.

[MateusRodrigues]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • My name is Mateus Rodrigues, and im working at ITALTEL company (a global Cisco Gold Partner)in a post salles position, i was born and living in Brazil, I've been working with Network Design and deploying for R/S, Collab, Wireless, and Security
    technologies projetcs about 10 years.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • I've been working with Meraki deployments MX, MR, and Prof-of-Concepts about one year at customers
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I don't remember something at moment 😐

[AlexGregoire]

Hello, I'm here as Alex.  I'm a network engineer for a rural governmental partnership with over a 100 local offices spread across my district. I'm administrate the entire WAN from end user to the home campus border. As the sole networking specialist; in one day I can be called to troubleshoot a WAN connection, plan a new building addition's communications wiring, enforce wireless usage standards, and install an unplanned cloud-based phone. And each office is different. We've been using Cisco VPN to connect the branch offices to the home campus - we're switching to Meraki because I frankly don't have enough time to admin a Cisco system, and we need a system that my colleagues can access and make changes to that's fault-tolerant, flexible, and easily understood. 

As I write this, we've put a handful offices on the system, and we're ironing the last of the beta bugs.

A fun fact . . I have a degree in art. So don't be surprised that I prefer to do my documentation in visuals.

[BrechtSchamp]

---

@mlane706 wrote:

My name is Mike Lane, and I have been working on learning Meraki Basics in order to start working on a consulting opportunity,

I keep seeing this ECMS1 (Engineering Cisco Meraki Solutions 1 course advertised. I registered twice and both times got a response that I was registered, then an email that my registration was being considered, then an email that I did not make it into the class. If the goal is to frustrate people interested in learning about Meraki, you have succeeded. I am going to take another avenue for training since this one apparently has some other objective.

---

Definitely reach out to your Meraki rep, this shouldn't be that hard. In the meantime, the youtube recordings of the webinars can already provide a lot of info. There's a video about each of the product groups. Good luck!

[Kushal]

• A bit about yourself & your work

10+ years of experience in the ICT sector

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Quite recent

• A fun fact about yourself

I love Japanese Anime

[tmgibbo]

Thomas Gibbons-Customer Service Specialist

I have worked with Merakis now for about 2 years. I love the product and the support that I get with Meraki.

I am enrolled in the CMNA  course this week and am looking forward to the extra knowledge on the Product.

[digisridhar]

!! >> A bit about yourself & your work <<!!

An Engineer by profession, with 17 years of experience in the IT industry. My current role is into Solution Design for customers on Network, Collaboration and Cloud.

!! >> Your experience with Cisco Meraki  <<!!Just a beginner with Meraki using it at work and learning and positioning the products to customers who are on a budget or want a single pane of glass for the Infra.

!! >> A fun fact about yourself  <<!!

Keep learning and take time off

[hosokawaw]

Hello Everybody

My name is William and i'm from Brazil 

• A bit about yourself & your work : actually i work with technical projects and i prospect another projects with SD-WAN Meraki, all lot of customers each more prefer this solutions.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki : About 3 years, i'm certified in CMNA and can learn more about this technology. 
• A fun fact about yourself: This no a fun fact, but at 1 year ago i had opportunity of know headquarter Meraki and liked de enviroment, and look around there various dogs, commom practice there. Excelent Experience.
  

Regards for us.

[maleco]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Hi, my name is Marco Lerma, I'm from Chihuahua, Mexico, I've been doing Enterprise Networking for 11 years now. I'm founder and CEO at GW INTEGRACION, we are Cisco Premier Partner

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I have been working with Meraki for a little more than 10 years now, I knew and worked with Meraki even before Cisco buyed it; in 2009 I was looking for an excellent and easy to use wifi solution, searching on the web I found Meraki but Meraki doesn't had presence or distribution here in Mexico, I called to California and tell them that I wanted to distribute their products in Mexico and then after some talking and negociation they allowed us to sell Meraki in Mexico, at that time we had to buy dirctly from Meraki in California, and since then I work with this great brand. When Cisco buy Meraki it was perfect to me because I'm Cisco and Merki lover! Since then there have been a lot of improvement and many new products besides APs. I have attended CMNA training twice

• A fun fact about yourself

When I smell soap powder it makes me want to go to the bathroom, it works as a laxative for me, haha

[jle93]

A bit about yourself & your work. 

My name is John and I use to work with Apple back in 2017 for a year. I recently just graduated from a State University and now working to getting my certificate as an Apple Consultant Network. 

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

My experience with Cisco Meraki I am new to it. Therefore, I am excited about this training.

A fun fact about yourself

I play computer games and work on cars as my hobby.

[brad1]

My Name is Brad and I am the Sys Admin for a small manufacturing company in Coon Rapids that makes parts for John Deere, Polaris, Cat, and others. Our plant is the size of two Football fields side by side with 100+ users and wireless for label printers, scanguns, and mobile devices throughout. I do alot of hunting and fishing with my 13 yr old son to forget about IT for a short time.

[FernandoVas]

Hello

my name is Fernando Vasquez, I'm 26 years old

My work is very nice, I am an installation engineer, I am entering the world of meraki, it is a very good and efficient team, more for its graphic interface

I have a hard time speaking and writing in English, I hope to learn much more about Meraki's technology

Regards!!

[HunterMatthews]

Currently, work at FloSports. Actively learning the Meraki dashboard and all associated technologies. Currently hold the CCENT, CCNA R/S, JNCIA, and IPv6 Certified Engineer (Silver) certifications.

Fun Fact: I have been programming since I was 14 years old.

[Tony9i9i9i]

Hi,

My names Tony, I've recently started working with a national UK waste management company, having spent the previous 20 years working in a various technical and technical service roles for a global a telecommunications company.

My Meraki experience is very limited.

I've listed to all 67 versions of "I fought the law" and should you be interested, in my opinion the Bobby Fuller Four version ranks number 1, the Clash come in at number 2 and I'll go with the Dead Kennedys at 3 (just because when they fought the law, they won 🙂 )

[Nydo89]

Hi all,

my name is Nils and I work for a Cisco Partner called "ACP IT Solutions" in Cologne, Germany.

Since we are slowly transforming different networks to the cloud stuff, I have done a lot with Meraki in the past covering the whole portfolio. Majorly I try to focus on Wireless LAN.

Fun fact about myself: I am a volunteer paramedic and own a private pilot license to fly around europe for fun.

[AWilk]

•  bit about yourself & your work - I started my networking career about 5 years ago and I worked mostly with Cisco gear during that time frame.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - I deployed Meraki APs to several sites and I recently deployed to MX100/250 & vMX100s to multiple locations in North America and Azure to leverage auto vpn.
• A fun fact about yourself - I met my wife, got engaged and married her all within seven months and remain married for 12 years!

[quadra01]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • I'm a network and systems admin; I have worked with Cisco Meraki at previous jobs and am looking for more SD-WAN setups at my current org.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • Have setup my previous org with MR-access points and MS-switches; used Systems Manager for configs, monitoring and even some MDM for iOS devices.
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I like record stores.

[nuo]

That is awesome. Meraki is defiantly the cloud for the local network infrastructure and much more!

[nuo]

@Nydo89 Also, really neat fun facts! 

[Nandan]

i like and love doing Networking. i want to grow more in this field, currently working as IT support engineer but want to get set into Networking side.

i am very new with Cisco Meraki and want to understand and learn this to find a career with mixture of my networking knowledge and skill.

we should not need fact to be funny 🙂 

[ShakeelRashid]

Hi Everyone!!

• A bit about yourself & your work

I've been a network designer for over 15 years and I've decided to take the jump into starting my own consultancy.  We'll be doing all sorts of design, consultancy and support based around Cisco products.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Zero, I've primarily been in the DC and MPLS core areas but I'm excited to learn more about Cisco Meraki and the benefits it can bring.

• A fun fact about yourself

I'm a huge Middle-Earth/Tolkien fan!!

[sankar]

Hi Everyone..

My name is Sankar. I have completed CCNA Certifications and having 8 Years of experience in Network Administration and Security. Currently working as Network operations and cloud Solutions. 

[Grillface]

Greetings All!

I work for an MSP in Southern California.  I'm a CCNA (R&S) and just started working towards the CCNA Security exam.  I have no previous experience with Cisco Meraki.  My boss suggested I start familiarizing myself with it, so here I am 🙂  Fun fact: I am a vegetarian that still misses the taste of meat after over 25 years 😉

[RajeshKumar]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I work as a senior technical consultant supporting multiple customer active on wired and wireless networks

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

My experience with meraki will be on doing on site installation and managing the customer dashboard for identifying any wireless related issues 

[ChrisBarnes]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I'm in charge of IT infrastructure and projects for Urban One (Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media). As of this post I've been with the company for over 9 years. Before that I was with Westwood One (no relation... I just like companies with One in the name apparently). 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

We began rolling out MX and MS appliances in 2018 and use them as internet firewalls and switches at all locations now. Separately I'm also a Meraki customer at home and am happy to advocate for more products that provide the function of Meraki at home!

• A fun fact about yourself

In the last 20 years I've had over 20 different addresses. It is very much as exhausting as it sounds! This coming year we're buying our first home!

[EricBred]

I've been in sales for 12 years now selling AV and IT solutions. Now I'm at Black Box Network Solutions

I just started selling Cisco Meraki

I'm always happy to help out when I can. 🙂 

[Leo_Solano]

• A bit about yourself & your work - I work as a Network Engineer at Sykes Latin America, have experience in Cisco TAC as a support engineer, worked in Routing Protocols, LAN Switching and Security TAC teams. Currently, I am with Sungard AS providing support to Menzies Aviation as a dedicated Senior Network Engineer.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - I am new to Meraki world, the customer we provide support to will deploy a large number of Meraki devices hence here I am trying to get up to speed with the product.

• A fun fact about yourself - I enjoy spending time watching football games and I am die-hard New England Patriots FAN!

[tantony]

Hello @Leo_Solano 

I noticed that you're working at Menzies Aviation.  Is this at BWI airport?  I live about 30 minutes away from BWI.  

[Leo_Solano]

Hi @tantony 

I actually work remotely from Costa Rica 🙂 not in BWI, although I provide network support for Menzies at that airport.

Regards!

[SomewhereinSC]

Working at a growing company in South Carolina... the current network is made up of netgear, d-link and trendnet unmanaged switches.  All flat, no VLAN's.  Previous experience with Cisco but decided to go with Meraki because it seemed/feels like a kinder "Cisco" when it comes to assistance and general help.  Changing this network over will bring the need for help and speculation that I hope to get from this community.

Gamer at heart, only work to be able to game later.

[SimonComscentre]

Our company have just won the Australia Post forthcoming network upgrade and five-year managed services contract.
The project includes the roll out of Cisco Meraki SD-WAN infrastructure and a transition of network connectivity across more than 4,000 metro, regional and remote sites nationally.

https://www.comscentre.com/comscentre-australiapost-media-release/

[SmwAdmin]

A bit about yourself & your work

 Owner Operator of a technology company, my background is in Network Engineering in WAN and LAN environments.

amongst other things. 

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

  I'm new to Meraki mostly worked on Cisco Products.

A fun fact about yourself

I built my own Fiber Cloud Storage Environment. 

[nuo]

nice one on the contract!

[Jarped]

• A bit about yourself & your work
• I work as as a consultant helping the sellers to justify their pre-sales and post-sales
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
• Using Meraki for about a year now, and absolutely everything about Meraki rocks!
• A fun fact about yourself
• I have no humor