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

[MeredithW]

UPDATE: We've archived this post and created a new board for introductions here.

Welcome to the Cisco Meraki Community. We’re glad you could join us!

This community was formed as a place for our customers and partners to interact with us and with one other. Why don’t we get started with some introductions?

Please reply to this thread (just click the “Reply” button below) to tell us…

• A bit about yourself & your work
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
• A fun fact about yourself

Lastly, be sure to add kudos to your colleagues’ posts to show your appreciation. We look forward to getting to know you!

P.s. As part of general community housekeeping efforts, we have started this new thread for introductions. However, you can still view the original thread at any time here.

[XitijShah]

Hi this is Xitij Shah,

I work at Emircom LLC which is Diamond partner of Cisco Middle East. I work here as Pre sales and Post sales Network Engineer for Meraki.

So basically I have to work on all Meraki Products , starting from selecting which products to deploy at customer end , to configuring them , to troubleshooting them up to the end.

Fun Fact about me is Everything, I find fun in everything .

Looking forward to be part of this community for knowledge purpose, As I have already completed My CMNA and ECMS1 training and I would like to move ahead with more trainings .

[CoreThread]

Hello,

My name is Adam I live in Stockholm sweden. I work as an intern at a company called Iris. I use Meraki to keep track of our mobile devices. I'm intressted in getting some kind of certification to boost my carrer. So I intend to use this community to learn more.

FunFact: I play Xbox to relax. 🙂

Wish u all well!

Adam Berglund

[SimonComscentre]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I work for a Cisco partner in Brisbane, Australia.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

My former role here, for 18 months, was as our SDM at Flight Centre, who utilise Meraki across their retail shop network.

• A fun fact about yourself

My love for singing far outweighs my ability to....

[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/

[nuo]

nice one on the contract!

[5SRichmond]

- A bit about yourself & your work

I have been working at 5S Technologies for about 2 and a half years. I run our Managed Services practice. I was born and raised in North Carolina. I went to school at UNC Charlotte and Wake Technical Community College. I enjoy playing music and sports and am a huge Carolina Hurricanes fan. 

- Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I've been working on Meraki products for about a year now. It all started with the purchase of Meraki from a customer in Mississippi. They decided to replace their whole infrastructure with Meraki. Access points, switches, and firewalls. We currently have a Meraki firewall and a couple Meraki switches in our own data center and are continuing to grow our Meraki business.

- A fun fact about yourself

I mentioned playing music before, I can play the guitar, drums, and piano. I am mostly self taught and played the drums in a band in high school. 

I am excited to be a part of the Cisco Meraki Community and can't wait to continue learning more from my peers.

[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

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[nuo]

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

[nuo]

@Nydo89 Also, really neat fun facts! 

[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.

[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.

[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. 

[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

[sincwill]

Hello

My name is Sinclair Williams. I have been in networking for over 30 years!

I work for Link Bermuda. The Meraki line is new to me but it looks promising!

Outside of work, you will probably find me with my kids on the football/soccer field!

[mail2karthip]

Hey All,

• A bit about yourself & your work

I am working as Lead networks, looks after the BAU

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Started Working and learning more about it.

• A fun fact about yourself

Started Learning New Technologies. 🙂

[CptnCrnch]

Guess it's time to introduce myself as I'm feeling pretty comfortable in here:

• A bit about yourself & your work

Working as a Principal Technology Specialist for a big Cisco partner in Europe. Involved in the IT security field for roundabout 25 years, mainly concentrating on infrastructure security. Involved with Cisco gear since 20 years, holding one or two certifications.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Started working with Meraki a few months ago and still having fun

• A fun fact about yourself

I like the sound of analog HiFi equipment, especially the sound of vinyl.

[CptnCrnch]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Working as a Principal Technology Specialist for a big Cisco partner in Europe. Involved in the IT security field for roundabout 25 years, mainly concentrating on infrastructure security. Involved with Cisco gear since 20 years, holding one or two certifications.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Started working with Meraki a few months ago and still having fun

• A fun fact about yourself

I like the sound of analog HiFi equipment, especially the sound of vinyl.

[Scene4436]

Hi Everyone,

This is Scene. I am very new to Meraki and doing some self learning as it is required at my work.I like Meraki but still I face lots of challenges sometimes as we need solutions and spend lots of time reading and trying to understand.Hope I will have help here from anyone newbies to Expert.

Thanks

Scene

[JonathanVelasco]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I have 9 years of experience providing solutions as a system administrator.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

A few months ago I enabled some Meraki MR84 - MR52 APs and for installing a MX100 Firewall

• A fun fact about yourself

I just bought a ticket for the Metallica worldwide tour Santiago 2020. 

[adamhoek]

Hey there!

Lately, I have been supporting bay area Meraki based networks with a small company.  

The cloud based management is brilliant.  

Fun fact: I am a Google trusted photographer with millions of views.

[lctronicoharbar]

Hi everyone!

I am Marcos Lopez, currently an IT Support Specialist at Harbar LLC. 

I have worked with a third party vendor  managing the Network Infrastructure, originally we had only the AP and few SW under Cisco-Meraki, however, I arrange the project to consolidate all our infrastructure to Cisco-Meraki devices, finally, we have (Firewalls, Switches, AP) and I am enjoying the dashboard where I can see all my network.

Right now I am evaluating the possibilities to also have Cisco-Meraki IP Cameras over the buildings.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Jose_Luis]

I am a presales engineer who works for ho1a metrocarrier a cisco gold partner company in Mexico, I've been in networking and other  IT verticals for going on 10 years now.

We work a lot with Meraki devices since as ISP the Meraki MX is one of the products that we offer the most to our customers.

[DarrenG]

Hi Guys!

• A bit about yourself & your work

My name is Darren Gonek, and I'm a customer-facing SE with 15 years of experience working for a telecommunications service provider in Canada.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Largely pre-sales - communicating Meraki value, features, and functionality to customers.

• A fun fact about yourself

When I was younger, I used to be an avid Ukrainian dancer.

[tmead]

Hi, my name is Ted and I work for a partner in North Carolina called NorthState Technology Solutions.   We offer a Meraki as a Service solution among many other things.

I have been in the industry about 40 years and 18 of those were directly with Cisco.    I need to get some hands-on with Meraki;)!   While I sell it, I need to actually use it - someone want to send me gear;)!

One interesting fact is that when I was a kid, most parents had their kids take piano or guitar lessons.   My Mom is Polish so I had to take the Accordian;)!

[ovewis]

This spring I started seriously with Meraki (deploying & activation). Have mostly worked with Cisco MPLS networks before.

[jasonmcconachie]

Hello! My name is Jason and I work for an ISP in Canada. We are using Meraki for several diverse clients - any where from small business to enterprise/campus level deployment sizes.

[Munya]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I work for T-Systems South Africa. 11 years Cisco... and 0 years Meraki

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

None at all

• A fun fact about yourself

Well, they call me Pablo... not sure why 🙂

[Roberto3]

Hello,

My name is Roberto and I'm one of the Network Administrators for our organization.

I am new to Meraki devices and need to know how these works, setup and troubleshoot.

Looking forward to learn on ECMS1.

Thank you.

[qnko]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Hi, my name is Yanko Raychev and I`m a Network Security Student at the University of Winnipeg with passion about networks, network penetration, cybersecurity, and Linux system administration.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Not much experienced with Meraki and SDN at all at the moment, but I`m very curious!

• A fun fact about yourself

I`ve visited 50+ countries around the world!

[tobor]

I am a Computer Systems Analyst for USA Volleyball. Merakai is awesome. I used to write film scores

[anthony225]

I am a senior network engineer with a financial company. We are fully engaged in the Cisco SD-WAN Viptela environment.

I am new to Meraki , I recently purchased a Meraki MX64W with advance security license.

I find the product amazing

I am trying to learn how the Meraki product line fits together and learn all the in and outs of configuring and understanding the technology.

Communities are always a great place to start, looking forward to reading the posts.

Anyone have a good starting point (please do not  say Meraki.com, I have been there notorious times and I do agree it is a great resource)

One of the best interview question I have ever had as a engineer was . What was the biggest thing you ever broke as a network engineer. I ask why and was told if you never broke anything you never did anything.

We all do have our moments, and I had my share : )

Thank you 

[CarolineS]

---

@anthony225 wrote:

Anyone have a good starting point (please do not  say Meraki.com, I have been there notorious times and I do agree it is a great resource)

---

Hi @anthony225 and welcome to the Meraki Community!

One good place to start in learning about Meraki, if you want a bit of a guided tour, is our "Preview" ECMS1 course, which introduces you to Meraki and to navigating the Meraki dashboard. You can find that here: https://community.meraki.com/t5/ECMS1/ct-p/ecms1 (scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the "Take me to the preview" page). You may also be interested in registering for the full ECMS1 course, which is an all-day instructor-led virtual course (but, be warned that demand for ECMS1 is high and sessions do fill quickly!)

You can also, of course, just ask your questions here on the community (in the relevant board under Product & Technology Discussions) and our friendly community members will answer. 

Cheers!

[moisesrodriguez]

• A bit about yourself & your work

          I work for a Cisco partner called "Netsync" located in Dallas, TX, US.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  I've worked with Cisco products, mainly with wireless for over 12 years, I've done few Meraki deployments but I'd like the way Meraki works.
• A fun fact about yourself
  I love music, I have a piano but my 7 year old daughter plays better than me.

[BalesTech]

Hello,

Thanks for having me!

• A bit about yourself & your work

   I am an Atlanta native (born in Florida, raised in Georgia!). I own "BalesTech, LLC." - an IT Consulting firm that focuses on the North Georgia / Atlanta-Metro regions. 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

We provide network/infrastructure/security services to small and medium-size business clients throughout the region. We are a "Dell and Cisco" shop so to speak - and try to implement Meraki wherever we can (it's been a lifesaver!). 

• A fun fact about yourself

I play drums, bass, and guitar in 3 different bands. 

[pkinnison]

• A bit about yourself & your work
• I work as a WAN Engineer in the Insurance Industry,  specializing in routing and communications for a Enterprise Environment with multiple Data Centers.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki   
• I manage a deploy of over 500 remote MX SDWAN sites configured to communicate with multiple Datacenters.   We have implement wireless on the MX appliance and deployed multiple template based on the specific needs of the sites.

• A fun fact about yourself
• I am a Taekwondo instructor and an amateur musician 

[Karrd]

What instrument do you play? 

Me - Guitar

I have an US Born -Gibson SG

I just bought a Korean Born - Ibanez AF85 - Sounds Great.

[Karrd]

What instrument do you play?
Me - Guitar
I have an US Born -Gibson SG
I just bought a Korean Born - Ibanez AF85 - Sounds Great.

[jdeavers8484]

Hello everyone my name is John Deavers and I'm a Senior Solutions Architect with PCM. I have been working on my training the last two weeks to get up to speed on the Cisco Meraki products and just completed the CMNA certification yesterday in Rosemont, IL. 

My background is Datacenter with strong focus on Servers, Storage, Virtualization and networking. I currently have 20 years under my belt with being a consultant, Systems Engineer for various fortune 500/1000 organizations and a Senior SA for multiple VARS for the past 12 years.

I have a big family of 8 including myself and two dogs 🙂 

I'm looking forward to working with everyone and learning a lot more about the suite of products that Meraki has to offer!  

[DM1]

I work for a University as a network admin we adopted cisco-meraki  platform after ditching Aruba wireless.  Meraki cloud based gear is the best way to go for us managing around 1000 APs with 2 people.

[CWMARS]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  I am part of the largest library network in Massachusetts - CW MARS, I help support a network of 150+ library locations.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  We have been slowly migrating our library sites to all Cisco Meraki MX, MR and MS products.
• A fun fact about yourself
  I've been working in IT for about 25+ years and am originally from California but traded in the sunshine for nice cold winters in Massachusetts!!

[Joanne1]

Hi, My name is Jo-Anne,  I am key accounts at Genband Africa. Still new to Meraki. Eager to learn, to gain deeper understand about the products and feature more importantly to sell a great solution and make money! I am so excited about the opportunities that lies ahead. 🙂 

[Abarreto]

My name is Alessandra Barreto and I work as an after sales at 2S. I am very happy to be part of the community.

[Karrd]

Higher Ed.

New to Meraki but not to Cisco

Where's my badge!

[CarolineS]

---

@Karrd wrote:

Where's my badge!

---

I see your Lift-Off badge on your profile now! Congrats!

[Karrd]

Yes! I'm in the club!

[Beau]

Guess I've got two accounts on here but this is my business one - lol! 

• A bit about yourself & your work
• I am a small business owner that does IT consulting in the North GA area
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
• I deploy Meraki solutions for all my clientele who request network revamps. 
• A fun fact about yourself
• I play drums, bass, and guitar, and am in 2 bands. 

[BrechtSchamp]

---

@Beau wrote:

Guess I've got two accounts on here but this is my business one - lol! 

• A bit about yourself & your work
• I am a small business owner that does IT consulting in the North GA area
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
• I deploy Meraki solutions for all my clientele who request network revamps. 
• A fun fact about yourself
• I play drums, bass, and guitar, and am in 2 bands. 

---

Wait, so you quit one band since last week? 😉

[Beau]

More like it fell apart into flaming wreckage over the course of a weekend, but hey

[Tristan]

I work for a medium sized healthcare organization and we are preparing for our Meraki deployment.

We just purchased our Meraki infrastructure and are preparing for set-up soon.

I’ve run 9 Tough Mudders.

[JoeSuhanov]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • I've been in networking for going on 7 years now. Im glag to be back in Brazil after being three years in europe studying and traveling. Now Im working at a huge Telco company and I help to adjust  and maintain the network infrastructure of the company
    
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • I have none experience with Meraki, I have good friends working at and with it so for this reason its a plus for learning some news tricks.
    
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I'm platinum at league of legends.
    

[JoeSuhanov]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • I've been in networking for going on 7 years now. Im glag to be back in Brazil after being three years in europe studying and traveling. Now Im working at a huge Telco company and I help to adjust  and maintain the network infrastructure of the company
    
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • I have none experience with Meraki, I have good friends working at and with it so for this reason its a plus for learning some news tricks.
    
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I'm platinum at league of legends.
    

[AdrianKBS]

Hello, 

Adrian in Melbourne, FL. 

I have worked in the IT services field since 98. I own a SB in Melbourne and we provide equipment, services, and solutions to our customers.  I don't have much experience with Meraki but plan to utilize Meraki products in a few of our solution sets.  

Have two great kids and enjoy coaching their teams!

Looking forward to learning from this community.

Thanks,

Adrian 

[AnTek-AA]

• A bit about yourself & your work
• My name is Andrew and I started in IT in 1997 at $5.50 per hour installing cable, patch panels, wiring, managing web, DNS and Internet services for a small IT integrator. We grew rapidly and I became a senior network engineering manager within 3 or 4 years, acquired multiple NetWare CNE's and was 1 of 2 non-owner senior managing network engineers, they are still quite strong and doing well today.  I've been running an owner operated very small pseudo MSP operation since 2007. In essence I try to merge adapt and supply Enterprise and custom solutions/technology/standards to SMB's of all sizes as best I can and as budgets allow. As well I've been building and managing Enterprise and custom server/network/storage/backup/business continuity and firewall solutions.  Security is now a primary focus and I am very happy and excited to reconnect as a new partner with Cisco/Meraki and to move forward with Cisco/Meraki at our core.  Anyone know the engineer’s holy cow it worked dance? J  Technology has evolved but the dance stays the same!
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
• I am new to Meraki but I was fortunate enough to participate in the Cisco Network Academy in I believe 1999 or 2000.  CCNA was just 1 test back then which I didn't bother to take for some reason, how things have grown lol. While I won't be doing the academy again I will be gaining multiple CCNP certifications over the next 2 years as well other security specific certifications and hopefully be able to achieve CCIE at some point.  Most of my Cisco experience was with PIX then ASA firewalls and a few switches here and there but not much in the last 10 years.
• A fun fact about yourself
• I love learning pretty much anything and I really love being able to use or share that knowledge to help people and businesses achieve and succeed in positive or desired outcomes. As above so below, we can only succeed when what we provide to those we serve or support also allows them to succeed.

Andrew

[Adriel]

I'm Adriel Rao, I work for Kastel Technologies as a Network Engineer. Really excited for this.

[ChadOzz]

Please reply to this thread (just click the “Reply” button below) to tell us…

• A bit about yourself & your work
  20+ years of IT Support, currently looking for new work 🙂
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  Been using Meraki technology for a while, love it
• A fun fact about yourself
  Started my career more than 20 years ago as a "Mac Guy" both personal & professional and really happy to see Mac more mainstream today!

[ChrisLap]

• A bit about yourself & your work : Sys Admin for small software company in Ottawa Canada.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki : Basically none.  I needed to upgrade my end of life SMB switches and was shown Meraki by a sales rep.  
• A fun fact about yourself : I am an Otaku -Japanese for geek or nerd-.  I enjoy watching anime, especially Isekai stories -where the hero is always lost in another world-.  Oddly enough, I do not like Manga -Japanese comics-.

[EricVanMaanen]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Legacy Computer Technician - been working with computers since 1984.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Worked with Caribou Coffee IT Dept helping Engineers and Technicians with Switch Replacements remotely. Used Dashboard alot and loved it.

• A fun fact about yourself - I'm addicted To Flight Simulator and Now Parkitect Amusement Park Simulator - YEAH!

[solobh]

My name is Solomon and I work as a Network Security Analyst.No experience with Cisco Meraki.

[Juan_M_Bueno]

Hello to all! Thanks for the warm welcome.

- A bit about myself & my work:

I am a technology enthusiast since I was a kid, when I loved to play and thinker with computers. In college I got a B.S. in electronics engineering, but my first job at a telephone company led me to a career in networking. There, I learned to build and configure networks with Cisco gear, then moved on to work with a system integrator where I had roles of engineering and management. There I had the opportunity to sell, design and/or support networking and security solutions from many vendors, like Cisco, Checkpoint, Fortinet, Nortel Networks, Juniper and Citrix. Currently I work in pre-sales engineering of a Cisco Meraki partner located in the Dominican Republic.

- Experience with Cisco Meraki:

My Cisco experience has been so far mainly with the main networking lines, and recently I have been involved with Meraki, learning from courses, webinars, and the excellent documentation. So far, I am impressed how feature rich is the Meraki line, and how easy it is to install and support.

- Fun facts about myself:

I am a fan of all good music, no matter the genre: classical, pop, rock, alt-rock, indie, jazz, electronic, ballads, oldies... I also love computer and video games, specially the ones from the 8-bit era!

[Jinseng]

Hello all,

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • I've worked in IT for over 20 years and now work from home, but still manage our one office location with the help of an on-site employee.  We're moving a lot of our work into Azure, so we won't have much equipment on-premises any longer.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • I've used Meraki WAPs before, but we just acquired a couple MS355-48X switches, a couple MX250 security devices, two MR45 access points, and a MV22 for our new location.
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I used to speedskate.

[herb1985evans]

A bit about yourself & your work

I work for a Cisco VAR and this year we are celebrating our 30th year and couldn't be happier where I am at.  

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I work across all Cisco Meraki product families along with running Meraki at customer locations and at my own home.

A fun fact about yourself

We have four dogs and a cat - two boston terriers, a beagle, a Akita/shepherd mix along with a cat named Peyton who thinks he is a mini lion.

[Antrew1980]

Hi i am Antreas.
i am from Cyprus and i have ccna and cmna

[Chioke-Dorsey]

Hello all! My name is Chioke Dorsey and I am Technical Solutions Architect with Cisco Systems.
-I primarily support civilian agencies in the DC metropolitan area as a Cisco Security Pre-sales engineer. I love to tinker with technology,read and workout.
-I am a novice to Meraki as I just went through training, however the product has me very excited. I am seeing several customers in my space beginning to purchase Meraki. I hope to keep that trend climbing upward.
-A fun fact about me is that prior to Cisco I worked for competitor companies Juniper and Palo Alto Networks. Prior to that, I worked for AT&T in the service provider market.

[hpaek95]

My name is Hanna and I recently started as a Client Manager at NTT. After a very brief stint in logistics for a dairy and drinks company, I'm back in IT sales and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. 

I have little to zero experience with Cisco Meraki but I'm very keen to learn and connect my customers with your technology. 

I can play the cello. 

[Beavisthrare1]

Hello Everyone!

My name is Brian Jeffrey.  I am a Systems Architect for Alpha Technologies, a technology integration company in WV.  My primary duty is to provide technical consultation to our sales team as well as our customer base.  I have been working with Meraki products for approximately 4 years now and can say that I become more and more impressed every time I receive new product updates from Meraki.  Hands down the best all-inclusive networking solution on the market!

I enjoy anything outdoors - hunt, fish, golf...even mowing grass!   🙂  I also love to cook and preserve everything I can from my garden!

I look forward to collaborating with everyone in the community!

[WizdomOnWheels]

• A bit about yourself & your work: I'm David Rutan and I founded my company Wizdom On Wheels in 2008 and provide onsite help for normal people all over the Bay Area - primarily homes and small businesses (less than 5). I've worked in IT at various companies for over 20 years and my favorite part of it is solving problems and coming up with solutions for the average non-technical and semi-technical person.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki: I've done a bunch of setups going back to pre-Cisco. I primarily do MX security appliance setups for more security conscious users and some Access point setups in homes and small businesses. I'm working on training for the new Meraki Go units as they're more geared towards the home and small business.
• A fun fact about yourself: I love viewing and creating animation - especially stop-motion animation. I studied animation in college and did a bit of stop-motion and 3d work, but found I enjoyed working with people more.

[DAY]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Working at Fortune 500 VAR - selling to Western Canada

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I sell a lot of Meraki - it is my go to solution for SMB clients, and some Enterprise clients

• A fun fact about yourself

I make short films in my spare time

[ilachowicz]

• A bit about yourself & your work - I'm a system admin, that also does network admin.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - I've been using Meraki devices for about 4 years.
• A fun fact about yourself - I make mead.
  

[Beachball]

Hi all,

• A bit about yourself & your work  - I have a IT Consultant for the past 15 years.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - I am new to Meraki and excited to learn!
• A fun fact about yourself - I wish I had more time to learn how to be a better cook. 🙂

[Esteban75]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Esteban with Accenture working with communications & media companies to implement systems that help improve their Customers' eXperience.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I'm brand new & want to learn more about SD-WAN.

• A fun fact about yourself

Was married near the Coliseum in Rome.

[Caribou]

Hi all, happy to join the community!

• A bit about yourself & your work

I am Lead Technical Consultant at UniversalMac, a proactive IT managed service provider part of the Apple Consultant Network [ACN].  I have been providing consulting and support services to our clients for more than 8 years and been a Mac Admin for about 10.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

We started deploying and managing Meraki solutions early on and have deployed more and more over time in small and medium size business environments.

• A fun fact about yourself

I’m originally from France and I have travelled to more than 30 countries.

[jasonb-ecpits]

I'm a full time IT Manager for a defense company but I still help some previous clients run their networks.

I've used Meraki equipment for about 6 years.

I always bring a towel.

[jasonb-fdi]

I'm a full time IT Manager for a defense company.

I've been using Meraki equipment for about 6 years.

I work a lot!

[mrfredellis]

Hello! I'm new to the CMC. I work for a Managed Service Provider in Pennsylvania. Looking forward to learning more about the community as well as products and services. Thanks!

[KenMage]

I am a business development manager/account manager at a Cisco Gold partner.  I have been in the Solution Integration business for about 40 years, and still LOVE learning about new technologies.   I have been involved with Cisco Meraki for several years, and earlier this year became a CMNA.  I currently have my CMNA pack (MX64, MS120-8LP and a MR33) running my home network.  I am glad to be both selling and using the Meraki stack.  Fun fact, I continue to play guitar and run sound on a periodic basis at my church.

[Louis_R]

Hi all

I'm very happy to have taken the fit videos  and would like to thank the narrator wich did a very extraordinary job.

tks all and happy to be a part of the community!!!

Ciao!!

Louis R

[Louis_R]

Hi my name is Louis R. Lasnier, i'm a Bell Canada consultant in IP and legacy solutions

I've sold some MR22's with a Bell promotion we have and had some great results.

tks for reading me!!

Louis R.

[computechsos]

Hello Meraki community, here as part of the Apple Consultants Network partnership with Cisco, getting to know more about the Meraki line-up.  We are a small Los Angeles base IT firm that supports home and SMB businesses.

[Zak]

Hello All,

              I am Zak. Work as sysadmin/network admin. I don't have any previous Meraki experience, however, very excited to be adding a lot of devices soon to our environment.

[VSH123]

Welcome. We are new ACNs. Looking forward to the opportunities.

[ninny]

Hello everyone!

I work for a Cisco Meraki partner called M.A. Polce Consulting in Rome NY.  I've been with M.A. Polce for just over 11 years and my current role is a solutions architect with a focus on Networking and Security.  I have been designing and deploying networks using Cisco Meraki since 2013 and what a fun ride it has been.   I love my profession but I'm also a firm believer that we all need some good balance in our lives. So when I'm not wearing my solutions architect hat, I can be found enjoying the outdoors in a variety of different ways including hunting, fishing, target shooting, skiing, snowshoeing, diving, hiking, snowmobiling, or four wheeling.

I'm looking forward to contributing to this community and learning from others.

[Ton_NTT]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I work as a Sr. Sales Consultant for NTT Netherlands B.V.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Sold it to a few of our customers as SD-WAN solution but also as OoB Management System

• A fun fact about yourself

Love Volleybal !!

[Brian_Swanson]

My name is Brian Swanson and I am the developer of an app called Self Censor.  It detects and blurs certain images that are sent or received. I just started with Cisco Meraki and I am looking forward to making connections and further expanding this app.  A fun fact would probably be that I have worked as a substitute teacher for the past 15 years.  If anyone has any questions or suggestions feel free to contact me. 

[abs4network]

Hi all members,

So the  story goes like this : -

• A bit about myself & my work
  • Ex-Cisco Employee (Cisco TAC Security, VPN, Data Centre and Virtualization).(6 years)
    
  • Currently in Cyber Security Consulting with 10+ years of experience.
  • CCIE Security (#35269)
  • Passionate about networking (all kinds 😉)
  • Doing all networking technologies across Cisco except Collaboration (Voice).
• My experience with Cisco Meraki  
  • MS to MX all done, deployed and love the way it works. Been doing Meraki for about 2-3 years.
• A fun fact about yourself
  • If I was not into IT networks, I probably would have become a Chef or a DJ/Producer, yes I love to cook and listen to Techno.

[SD_Merak]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I am a Support Engineer working for ISP in Auckland.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Cisco Meraki is new product for us. Few of our customer have started using it and they really love it.

• A fun fact about yourself

I like watching sports and also play bit of Badminton and Tennis.

[MarselBennett]

A bit about yourself & your work

NOC-Engineer / Tech-Support for around 10,000 Meraki Devices across 1000+ Networks providing "Free-WiFi" across Germany / CCNA Wireless

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I've been working almost exclusively (80%) with Meraki Gear for a bit over a year now and love it!

A fun fact about yourself

I am also a trained Hairdresser - go figure...

[LukeSwinbourne]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I am 2nd Line Network Engineer and been doing this for 3 years. I acquired my CCNA Collaboration and currently working towards my CCNP.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Our customer has a Cisco Meraki solution in place including, MX, MS and MR devices. Just attended and earned my CMNA badge and looking to develop my skills and learn the API integration.

[SR-HanShotFirst]

I'm a poor VP of Information Technology for an engineering services company located in the U.S. 

We standardized on Meraki around four years ago at all locations for firewall, switch, and WiFi access points, exclusively.  We have just under 50 MX, MR's, and MS devices company-wide.

Han Shot First.

[KRobert]

Welcome @SR-HanShotFirst! May the Force be with on this fine Star Wars Episode IX day!

[DaisyB]

Welcome! Please introduce yourself.

• A bit about yourself & your work
  I'm currently working at Vancis BV in Amsterdam where we aim to serve organizations in education, healthcare and research.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  None thusfar but I'm very interested because I want to add the knowledge to be able to work for companies who use Meraki
  
• A fun fact about yourself
  I love cats and setting up Domino tracks to let all the stones fall down!
  

[DaisyB]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  I'm currently working at Vancis BV in Amsterdam where we aim to serve organizations in education, healthcare and research.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  None thusfar but I'm very interested because I want to add the knowledge to be able to work for companies who use Meraki
  
• A fun fact about yourself
  I love cats and setting up Domino tracks to let all the stones fall down!
  

[zeroui]

* a bit about myself 

My name is Jordan Freeman, and I am an IT Specialist at the Jeff Schmitt Auto Group in Fairborn/Beavercreek Ohio. I am also a web developer, programmer, and have experience in a number of disciplines in the IT field!

* experience with Cisco Meraki

I have been managing the MX switches we have on site for about 90-days with this company, and love all of the amazing work you guys are doing. I hope to work for you guys some day. Currently finding ways to apply every tool available to this organization to help with workflow and overall management, bringing my skills in workplace efficiency through IT development.

* fun fact about myself

On the side, I build drift cars and show cars, rebuilding engines from scratch (currently working on a 1.3L Rotary rebuild), I write music, and am a photographer as well. I hardly sleep and am constantly working! So not so much fun but its fun to me, I love to always be moving something forward. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you here and continuing to develop my skills inside of the Meraki system framework you have so elegantly designed! 

If anyone reads this, say hi below so we can connect and talk shop 🙂 

[Cole]

• A bit about yourself & your workMy name is Shane Cole and I am the Sr. Network Engineer for the Virginia Alcohol and Beverage Control Authority. 
• Your experience with Cisco MerakiI started working with Meraki about 5 years ago and have recently decided to bring Meraki into my current infrastructure. I am currently using the MX, MS, MR and MV product lines. 
• A fun fact about yourselfHuge fan if 80s New Wave music. 

[PedroVieira]

A bit about yourself & your work
Hello! I work for a Cisco partner located in Brazil, and I`m a Jr network Engineer with a CCNA.


Your experience with Cisco Meraki
I work across some MX and MR products for a new client SDWAN project using Meraki products and I`m enjoying working with it

A fun fact about yourself
I have a snake as a pet!

[ClaytonPotter]

Clayton Potter

Senior Enterprise Cloud & Network Architect

Hertz Global WHQ

CCNP  ECMS2

Working with Meraki products for 7 years.  Was previously a Network Administrator and Pre-Sales Architect

Currently deploying SD-WAN Globally for Hertz Companies using Meraki and Viptela SD-WAN devices with Meraki Networks devices behind them. Using MX, MS, MR, MV and LTE/MG devices in the network reference architecture designs.  Over 3000 locations deployed to date. 

Fun Fact - Motorcycle road racer and track day coach, Long range marksman

[KRobert]

Welcome @ClaytonPotter! If you are from the United States, is the 6.5 Creedmoor really the new king caliber of Long Range Marksmanship?

[Carmelo]

Hi, I'm a new partner worker with Meraki. It just 4 months that I've implemented Cisco Meraki solution.

My job is maintain the network infrastructure for my company,

[KRobert]

Adding Meraki makes maintaining the network infrastructure a lot of fun! especially if you are coming from a CLI background. Welcome @Carmelo!

[brett_bryant]

Hello!

My name is Robby.

• A bit about yourself & your work

I recently started as the Director of Technology with a company called 215 Tech out of Salt Lake City UT.  We are part of the Apple Consultants Network, we are a solution provider, and we do IT contracting work.  We also sell and manage Meraki as one of our primary technology partners.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I have been using Meraki gear for a very long time.  I was looking for a solution in this space about 2 years before Cisco purchased them, and after being sent the trial gear, I was completely sold.  At my last job, we grew a retail company from about 50 stores to 1500 stores in a 5 year period, and Meraki was a big part of our success in growing that business.

• A fun fact about yourself

I play bagpipes, and have actually competed in the world championships for bagpiping before

[JohnnyIT]

Hey-O!

Good to be in this community of Meraki-ites. 

• A bit about yourself & your work - I am a principal consultant in IT for a partner in Toronto 
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - have had some demos and very interested in cloud management of switching fabric and wireless. 
• A fun fact about yourself - I have a few passions: a guitarist also and working on running a 5K soon!

[Tinee1227]

hi my name is juan, i am a network engineer , looking for training on CISCO Meraki training ,
any courses . online

[SD_Merak]

Hi Tinee1227,

Please register yourself to book slot for Entry Level online training using below link:

https://community.meraki.com/t5/ECMS1/ct-p/ecms1

Thank You

[theshmike]

Hi there,

I just decided to take part in the community because it seems to be an requirement for getting into the early access developer program at Meraki 😉

But seriously, I've been working with Meraki gear for about 5 years now. Currently I work as head of IT for a German retailing company which operates about 90 stores across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I've been working as an systems engineer for many years before, so I am not the classical pure "manager".

I am experienced with the full Meraki portfolio with an exception for Insight.

Currently, I am working on a project to use the cameras as a "real" people counter for retail stores with heavily utilized store entrances. The cameras are doing the job well basically, but they lack of some major features that you need in a big retail store, e.g. distinguishing people count in/out and export the detected object frames for further processing (yes I know there is an API endpoint for taking snapshots, but it's not suitable when you need to export >5k pics per day).

Fun fact: Most of my error catching code looks like this: else {die "fu**** somehow\n";}

[Micaela_Diaz]

• Un poco sobre ti y tu trabajo

Soy ingeniero en Electrónica y Comunicaciones y lejos de enfocarme a trabajar en campo, me gusto más el departamento de ventas. Es un reto a diario el  llevar las soluciones a las empresas, convencerlos para que acepten tu propuesta lo hace interesante y divertido.

• Tu experiencia con Cisco Meraki

Actualmente trabajo en PlanNet Service y  tengo el reto de llegar a ser Cloudmaster en Cisco Meraki, me encanta ir a las empresas con todo el portafolio de Meraki ya que cuenta con muchos beneficios para el cliente.

• Un hecho divertido sobre ti:

En la universidad fui bicampeona en Lucha Olimpica estilo libre y por mi complexión tal delgada se asombran cuando les comento de mi experiencia en el deporte.

[Micaela_Diaz]

Felicitaciones por este portal tan valioso.

[Tinee1227]

hi Guys and Gals i'm Juan, thanks for letting me participate in our Meraki community

i' started my career in telecom in 1999/ with newengland  telephone as a technician were i worked till 2014, and am now a network engineer , in ct with the CSP,  i really enjoy what IT brings to the table, zero touch provisioning , 

such granular detail, into thousands of points on the network, my goal is to get Meraki certified and Maybe even pitch some equipment to sis/admin , in the future, i'm looking for labs or sandboxes that would allow me to get really good 

with Meraki switches , any suggestions ?? 

i am turning 52 this year, so somedays i feel really old,, lol 😎.... 

just immediate family that i'm super close with, in Massachusetts and ct, 

hobbies are coaching college athletes , also coach wrestling at the high school level, volunteering this year

to give speeches to middle school children on Character Education , in down my time , i enjoy 

trails , biking , and even the beach in the summer, 

thanks again , cheers to all, during this holiday season!! 

CISCO MIND WIDE OPEN 2020 !!!! 

[Coretechnical]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I work for an apple focused IT consultancy business in London

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

We are new to Cisco Meraki and are looking forward to completing the training and seeing how we can utilise the product for new and existing clients.

• A fun fact about yourself

I'm an amateur hip-hop dancer

[Riaan_Steenberg]

Hi

I am currently working at MTN South Africa in the Technology Enterprise Services division and I am fortunate to be working on the SD-WAN project, including Meraki.

I am quite new to Meraki, but have completed the Meraki Fit level 1 and another Udemy course on basic concepts and setup. I am looking forward to learn more and do a few more training courses.

I enjoy the outdoors, travelling, camping, game drives, kayaking, mountain biking, tech gadgets and IoT. 

Riaan

[MarkRobinson]

Hi, I'm Mark Robinson, I work as the customer engagement specialist at ISG technology. ISG specialise in managed service design, deployment and support, particularly with WIFI networks and IP camera technology. We have been a partner of Meraki for many years but now we are keen to expand, support other Meraki channel partners in the deployment and support of live networks.

As for something interesting...... in my spare time, I work as a volunteer cook at a campsite for the disabled, hugely grounding and amazing fun with some livelong friends too.

[Lampiro]

Presently, I work as a Network technician in Presidio.

My experience with Meraki has been a good in-terms of its automation.

I am a die-hard fan of Chelsea football club.

[Yuya]

・A bit about yourself & your work
I work at a university in Japan.
managed by all campus IT Solutions.

・Your experience with Cisco Meraki
Meraki was introduced 4 years ago.
more than 10 years use CISCO products.

・A fun fact about yourself
I want to interact with you.

Please Contact me.

[PhilipDAth]

@WizdomOnWheels  that is a cool company name!  I wish I was that creative.

[WizdomOnWheels]

Thanks!

It was a long process of collaboration with a prior colleague that finally came up with it. We couldn't get the normal spelling on Wisdom as a URL, so we went with Wizdom instead, kind of like a "Wiz". Eventually I talked with the owner of the wisdom domain as she wasn't using it at all and I have the original spelling domain as well. At this point the Z stuck!

- David

[KRobert]

That is an awesome origin story @WizdomOnWheels! Welcome to the community.

[CityofCanning]

Hi Guys

I am Edward Xu and I am happy to join the Meraki Community 

• A bit about yourself & your work

I am a network admin working on CCNP. I work for the local government 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

All the APs, MS, MV, MX

• A fun fact about yourself

I love eating good food while I am playing World of Warcraft 

[JuliaMirau]

• A bit about yourself & your work

Hi! I'm working in a small company in Cologne since last week that wants to introduce Meraki to the customers. 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Before, I worked for a company that selled Meraki almost every day to their customers. I liked the designs a lot. 

• A fun fact about yourself

Many people do not understand my sarcasm. Therefore, some think I am rude and strict.

[JimPflegerVZ]

A bit about yourself & your work

I'm Jim Pfleger, and I work at Verizon where I do software development and automation in support of our Presales Labs and our customers.

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Other than some experience through DevNet, I'm new to Meraki and I'm looking forward to learning a lot on the fly.

A fun fact about yourself

My friend and I once won San Francisco's Annual Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt.

[alloytm]

A bit about yourself & your work
Been a networking engineer for 15years under HP/HPE/DXC and now AT&T while sitting in the same place. (Lanyard collector 😂)

Your experience with Cisco Meraki
Less than a year but recently attend the ECMS1 and looking forward for more.

A fun fact about yourself
Enjoy planting Bananas,Papaya,Pineapple,Custard Apples in the garden.

[SPBM]

• A bit about yourself & your work - I'm a CTO within the Retail market sector, that has a network background.
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki - Been using Meraki for circa 3 years which includes, MX & Insight, MS, MR and MV devices. 
• A fun fact about yourself - lived in several European countries. 

[Kiri]

1. A bit about yourself & your work
   I work for a retailer which has 3000+ stores around the world as a network engineer/administrator from GHQ.
   
   
2. Your experience with Cisco Meraki
   Work with the MX, MS and the MR series generally for network system of offices, retail stores, and warehouses.
   
   
3. A fun fact about yourself
   I've been on a business trip to lots of countries but never been to foreign countries on my personal trip...

[david_n_m_bond]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I'm a director and developer at Panoramic Data Limited, an independent software vendor based in the UK.  We create custom, closed-source software, but open source all our system libraries so the whole community can benefit.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

We authored the Meraki.Api nuget package, which uses the Dashboard API and have used it projects, including one that provisioned 6000+ Meraki devices for a large retailer.  We would love to help you on YOUR project.  Do contact me if we can help you with Meraki automation!

• A fun fact about yourself

Gaming stats: Starcraft 2: Gold 1, Splatoon 2: Rank X

[PhilipDAth]

>We authored the Meraki.Api nuget package

@david_n_m_bond , I couldn't encourage you to add dotenv support for safer handling of API keys could I?

The Powershell example is down near the bottom of the first post here:

https://community.meraki.com/t5/Developers-APIs/A-newer-safer-way-to-access-the-dashboard-API/m-p/69... 

[david_n_m_bond]

Hi Philip,

All pull requests gratefully received!

I'm not sure what security this adds though, as this is a non-standard configuration mechanism and would add an unnecessary dependency to the nuget package.  The private strings are still loaded into application memory and passed in cleartext in your example.  In C#, it would be better to achieve what you need using IOptions<Configuration> using dependency injection, I would have thought. In PowerShell, you can still use devenv and constructor injection.

[PhilipDAth]

Hi @david_n_m_bond .

>'m not sure what security this adds though, as this is a non-standard configuration mechanism and would add an unnecessary dependency to the nuget package. 

It adds no dependencies.  There are no additional modules to include.  The "dotenv" approach is a well accepted - standard - for credential passing.  It is the third factor for the "12 factor app" doctrine.

https://12factor.net/config 

The "IOptions<Configuration>" is a solution that only fits this one particular environment.  The dotenv solution is cross platform cross environment solution (hence its wide acceptance).

You can go from using powershell to Python to node.js, from one app to another, with the config (particularly the API keys) only needing to be configured once.

[AAcademy]

I work for two private schools, a boys and girls school, that share administration that are both founded in 1813.

I deployed one of the first generations of Meraki in Massachusetts but have not worked with it for several years now.

I also coach baseball.

We just deployed an MX250 with help from our local vendor Groff Networks in Troy NY. 

[KRobert]

Welcome @AAcademy! The MX250s is some pretty awesome hardware! we just replaced our MX100s with those and were not looking back!

With the cities you put in your intro, I can see baseball being a big deal!

[EugeneL]

Hi, My name is Eugene  .

I am a Network Engineer and have been working in this area for over 20 years.

I am somewhat new to Meraki , most of my work was with with Cisco products

an a few other vendors.  Hopefully will learn more here 🙂 , along with working on

Meraki  equipment for work.

[Kris-D]

Hello,

• A bit about yourself & your work: My name is Kris. I work for Cloud Group NV, located in Antwerp, Belgium. I am currently working as a field service engineer.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki: Installed some MX, but still learning.... Looking forward to explore the power of Meraki full stack solutions.
• A fun fact about yourself: I jump out of planes for fun

[bobbysledge]

I am Bob , I work with an ISP delivering enterprise services, looking to learn more about Meraki networks.

[mclitle]

A bit about yourself & your work

I'm a manager of Sales Engineering in Seattle.

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I have my CMNA and enjoy using and selling solutions that leverage Meraki infrastructure.

A fun fact about yourself

I'm in the process of remodeling my kitchen, including wall and floor engineering, framing, plumbing, electrical, building the cabinets and pouring the countertops, all myself.

[Riaz_Voltex]

Welcome! Please introduce yourself.

 

Welcome to the Cisco Meraki Community. We’re glad you could join us!

This community was formed as a place for our customers and partners to interact with us and with one other. Why don’t we get started with some introductions?

Please reply to this thread (just click the “Reply” button below) to tell us…

• A bit about yourself & your work

I manage a team of IT Professionals hosting various MPLS and VPN Mesh networks. 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

A few months back i decided to embrace the Meraki journey and have no regrets thus far.

• A fun fact about yourself

I was always faithful to Fortigate until i discovered Meraki. Now it is Meraki all the way.

[Riaz_Voltex]

Welcome to the Cisco Meraki Community. We’re glad you could join us!

This community was formed as a place for our customers and partners to interact with us and with one other. Why don’t we get started with some introductions?

Please reply to this thread (just click the “Reply” button below) to tell us…

• A bit about yourself & your work

I manage a team of IT Professionals hosting various MPLS and VPN Mesh networks. 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

A few months back i decided to embrace the Meraki journey and have no regrets thus far.

• A fun fact about yourself

I was always faithful to Fortigate until i discovered Meraki. Now it is Meraki all the way.

[TheCatman]

I'm the IT Director at Alfresco... My past includes a memorable time working for Cisco (1994-1999) and then Juniper Networks (1999-2007) 🙂

I'm learning Meraki while digging up my previous networking skills 😉

[saugustine]

I have over 15 years experience in IT with 11 years working with Cisco products. The company I work for uses Meraki at its remote locations and Cisco at the main campus.

I am an IT professional who likes to cook 🙂

[Waheed-Ali]

Hi, I am Waheed Ali, a Computer Networks and IT Infrastructure Professional and (CCNP, CCDP, CCNA, HCNA), from Pakistan and work for the development/non-profit sector. Right now working in the HQs of an international organization and providing level-2/3 Networks/Meraki support to all field offices (>200) around the globe, apart from engineering stuff in the Networks domain and, specially on Meraki.

Love to experiment new technologies, come up with new ideas and deploy them while loving the challenges ahead.

Joined the Meraki Community to learn more about Meraki, from you guys and your great experience.

Thanks

Waheed Ali

[Orobio]

hi.
this is my first time in Meraki Community, thanks for this opportunity

[Waheed-Ali]

Hi @Orobio 

Welcome to Meraki community. I am also new here. Do you have any idea about APIs and how they work? I want to run API through SharePoint. Do you think that is doable?

[MagnusK]

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • Works in Sweden as a Consultant

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • Just starting to getting to know Meraki
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I love Philips Hue lamps

[Anjul_Sharma]

• A bit about yourself & your work

This is Anjul Sharma, working as a Network Administrator in Netlink Software's Pvt Ltd locate in Detroit,MI,US.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

Working with Cisco Meraki Family from Past 6 month and completely moving on Meraki now.

• A fun fact about yourselfNow Fun getting Started with Mearki 🙂

[McMaggers]

A bit about yourself & your work

I work within Health Care as a Senior IT Operations Engineer.

Your experience with Cisco Meraki

We rolled out Cisco Meraki Meraki APs across our sites a few years ago and been very impressed with the solution.

A fun fact about yourself

One time I was out on a bender (for non british people that means out getting drunk) when I much later that evening had to go to the toilet. On my way there I saw someone coming towards me and I got out of the way, so did that other chap so I thought "Thank you" and wanted to move on. The guy decided to move on at the same time as me which was not something that I thought was amusing, so a bit irritated now I again though I'd let him pass and again he moved aside at the same time as me. Slightly annoyed (and not very sober) I now wanted to pass him and yet again he moved in front of me. I got really annoyed now and looked up and realised it was merely my reflection that I had seen in a mirror. Other people in the bar had a good laugh at the whole situation and I was left quite red faced, but I did see the funny side in it.

[Matt-Duraco]

Hello,

My name is Matt from the Duraco company in Forest Park, IL.

We have begun the process of updating all of our Cisco infrastructure to Meraki devices.

I have no experience at all with this brand and will be learning all I can in the coming weeks/months.

[Shahrukhm]

Hi Folks; 

• A bit about yourself & your work

  I am an IT specialist , working with Webbeds by Webjet Australia and based in Dubai . Having a diverse experience of IT at during past 15 year made me confident to work with any kind of network or technology world wide and it became my passion too. 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  We are condired as one of the pioneers of having Cisco Meraki in this  region fully equipped in all branches with Merakis , MX , MS , MR  and all the devices. 
• A fun fact about yourselfused google to know the meaning of word " Meraki" which means "meraki [may-rah-kee] (adjective) This is a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love — when you put “something of yourself” into what you're doing, whatever it may be" 😄 

[faso]

I'm an Apple Consultant in Italy, in a city called Milan.

I know Cisco Meraki but I need more information, training and advices.

I also work as DJ sometimes 🙂

[still-learning]

A bit about yourself & your work Your experience with Cisco Meraki A fun fact about yourself

• A bit about yourself & your work

My name is Ibrahim, I am  taking care of a small network with multiple branch offices, recently joining a company.

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

For the same reason joined this community as I have few queries to get the access of the devices configured and installed by someone else. 

• A fun fact about yourself

Feel free to be happy. 

[horizonpoint]

Hey all,

Glad to be part of the community!

• A bit about yourself & your work
  • We're a small VAR/Systems Integrator for SMB here in the Southeast USA based out of South Carolina. We're a new Cisco Partner.
    
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki
  • I've used Meraki for years with another company and now excited to share it with our client base and others.
• A fun fact about yourself
  • I hold a CISSP certification and work another full-time job as an IT Security manager at a large university.

I look forward to meeting and learning from you all!

Josh

[Egghead_John]

Hi All,

My name is John and I am a Network Engineer for an MSP based out of beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. I've been implementing Meraki for a few years now and I'm looking forward to gathering more tips and tricks here.

Fun Fact: I'm an avid fan of the Big Green Egg Kamado style cooker. I travel around the country doing various charity events while serving up deliciousness from the BGE

[Precision]

Hi,

My name is Pero Vrucinic and i am in-house IT support for Precision Business Solutions, based in Dallas TX.

We are in quantitative market research business.

Nice to meet everyone!

Pero

[TimothyS]

• A bit about yourself & your work

I have been working for the Los Rios Community College District fro 18 years as a Network Admin/Analyst. I started when the first switched network was installed. Xylan 10Mb half duplex to the desktop with a 10 Mb backbone. We switched to Alcatel then to Cisco. Now we are moving forward with our first deployment of Meraki. 

• Your experience with Cisco Meraki

I have no experience with Meraki. We just stood up our dashboard and are waiting to deploy equipment in a new building.

• A fun fact about yourself

I twice have been an extra in movies and I am an amateur Horologist. 

[Mr_Bill]

Hello all, I'm a data processing professional that has seen a large number of changes, improvements and innovations to the industry as a whole. If you don't know what a punch card is or have only seen one in a museum that's OK.

I am new to Cisco Meraki, but I already love the concept.

Fun fact - I've retired from three companies. Developing web applications and configuring networks is a close second to collecting retirement checks.

[TimothyS]

👋Oh! I remember punch cards in high school! Welcome in. I too am new to Meraki and love the concept as well. I plan to investigate further at Cisco Live in Vegas this year! See ya there?

[Greg13]

Hey, my name is Greg I'm a computer technician for a k-12 School District in Maine. One of those wears all the hats jobs from the help desk to network/server admin. 2019 Will be our first year will Meraki products.

[ChrisG6]

Hi, 

I am Chris

Please reply to this thread (just click the “Reply” button below) to tell us…

• A bit about yourself & your work (www.linkedIn.com/in/cdgIT)
• Your experience with Cisco Meraki (Nubee)
• A fun fact about yourself (I love techy stuff, go figure.... Home automation has finally arrived.

[MeredithW]

We've launched a brand new board for introductions, check it out!