Hey y'all, Phil Coburn from Product Enablement here, with a friendly announcement for our MX64/65 owners! 

In May 2025 we released firmware 18.1.7.13 for the MX64/65 security appliances. There were several updates and fixes in this version, but the primary change was that our MX team bumped the version of Snort 2 -- the MX security appliance's IDS and IPS -- to 2.9.20. This provided MX security appliances with updated rule sets, protecting them against newly discovered vulnerabilities.

However, just a week ago Snort announced that other versions of Snort 2, like 2.9.18.1 and 2.9.19.0, are deprecated and will no longer be supported as of 12/18/2025. Since older versions of MX firmware (before 18.1.7.13) use these soon-to-be deprecated versions of the Snort 2 engine, if your MX64/65 security appliances aren't upgraded to the latest stable MX firmware release they will not have the latest Snort 2 IDS/IPS rules... and the last thing you want is for your IDS/IPS to be out of date. 

If you'd like to keep your MX64/65s up to date with the latest IDS/IPS rules (yes, you do), then upgrade to the latest stable firmware release. As always, you can find this under Organization > Monitor > Firmware Upgrades. Good luck, and stay safe! 

You may have noticed a new VRF page under the Organization menu in dashboard 👀 

This page allows users to create Virtual Routing and Forwarding instances, or VRFs, which can then be used for configuring VRF related functions on platforms that support VRF in any network in the organization. 

For example, starting with IOS XE 17.18 Catalyst 9000 switches that have hardware support for VRFs can have interfaces assigned to VRFs you create on the organization-wide VRF page.  

If you’re new to VRF, it allows layer 3 routing devices (such as switches and routers) to keep multiple, separate routing tables, which creates segmentation at layer 3. This is often used to create separate networks for devices such as corporate workstations, IoT devices, or payment processing systems. VRFs allow these devices to use the same switches without being able to reach each other, unless a fusion device such as a firewall is used to connect the VRFs together. 

🔗 See a Preview of VRF from Cisco Live 

We are excited to share that the new assurance-focused Organization Summary page is now available to everyone via early access! The page gives network admins an overall view of their organization health, spanning client connectivity, infrastructure issues, and application outages. It highlights organization-wide trends, surfaces key insights, and helps pinpoint the most problematic networks to resolve issues quickly. 

How do I access the page? 

Opt-in directly from the Organization Summary page using the blue opt-in link on the upper right or from the Early Access page. 

We are excited to announce the launch of the Cisco AI Assistant, now available in controlled availability for the Meraki dashboard! This is a major milestone in our journey to leverage the power of AI to make NetOps simpler and your networks smarter.

When a critical application fails or an expected system error strikes, the first question is always: Why? Stop wasting time on drawn-out investigations. Get straight to the answers and cut your MTTR with Meraki’s intelligent Root Cause Analysis (RCA) flows!

Meraki for Government is now FedRAMP Moderate and StateRAMP Moderate authorized

Experiencing a network outage or a sudden performance drop often leaves network administrators searching for the answer: 'What changed? Now, with Meraki Assurance, finding the answer is easier than ever before.

As we continue to improve the alert management experience, we are excited to share the new Alerts Configuration page!

This page is generally available and can be accessed by admins with organization-level privileges directly from the Organization Alerts page.

We are excited to share that Assurance Overview is now generally available and enabled by default for all organizations! Assurance Overview delivers a unified assurance experience for you to understand the overall health of your network across the entire stack. It is a one-stop-shop to monitor your network health and quickly troubleshoot problematic areas.

We are excited to share that the new Assurance Overview is now available to everyone via the Early Access page! Assurance Overview provides a unified assurance experience for you to understand the overall health of your network across the entire stack. You can easily monitor your network health and quickly troubleshoot problematic areas.

Enable the feature for your organization by going to Organization > Early Access and opt in to the ‘Assurance Overview’ feature.

As we reach the first big milestone in our journey to build a better experience for alert management, we are excited to share multiple features we have launched to date.  

At the beginning of February, we made the Organization Alerts page generally available. This page is one of the most requested alerting features by users and an extension of the Alert Hub. It can be found under the Organization tab:

We're thrilled to announce the launch of the next-generation of vMX, the vMX-XL! Now available in public beta on AWS! vMX-XL is our most powerful cloud networking solution yet, designed to redefine the possibilities for scale and performance. With the vMX-XL, you can seamlessly and securely connect your branch locations to AWS resources in the cloud, ensuring unparalleled efficiency and reliability. Experience the future of cloud connectivity today and elevate your network infrastructure to new heights with the vMX-XL. 

We are excited to announce that Cisco Meraki Canada Region has added support for MX SD-WAN Plus and MI Insight. With MX SD-WAN Plus, users get access to ThousandEyes insights, Smart L7 local internet breakout, performance-based routing, and ML-powered analytics. Meraki Insight provides end-to-end visibility into how users experience a network, providing performance management and troubleshooting with zero setup or configuration required.

We are excited to announce that Cisco Meraki for Government is now available to buy for our U.S. Federal customers. Cisco Meraki for Government provides a secure and efficient way to support networking transformation within budget.

Our cloud-managed platform simplifies networking to make it easier to deploy, manage, and optimize networks-driving IT modernization and enabling hybrid work. Meraki helps future proof networks and allows agencies to stay ahead of changing citizen and regulatory demands while improving employee productivity.​

Are you a Canadian customer that would like to store data locally? If so, we can help! We’ve created Cisco Meraki Canada Region, a separate cloud platform that stores network management data within Canada. Cisco Meraki Canada Region is now generally available and provides the same security, reliability and redundancy offered by our distributed cloud architecture.  
 
Main benefits: 

1. Same ease of use as our commercial cloud  
2. Same end-to-end visibility across your networks 
3. Same security and reliability 
4. No user data passes through the Meraki platform 
5. Network management data stored in Canada 

Additional 30 ports to scale AutoVPN 

Break SGT boundaries and go global!

Cisco Meraki has partnered with AWS to announce the general availability of Quick Start vMX on AWS Cloud WAN. This integrated solution enables customers to build wide area networks across AWS regions and connect to the Meraki SD-WAN fabric - using Meraki vMX - in just a few easy steps.

Ever get asked “what is xyz feature, when is it coming, which firmware is it in, etc.”?

Cisco+ Secure Connect—SASE as-a service for any device, any application, any location

"With Umbrella’s Powerful Security comes Meraki's Great Simplicity"

The integration between Meraki SD-WAN and ThousandEyes bringing Internet Insights to the Meraki platform   

Your business needs the right solutions to adapt your networks to the new hybrid work paradigm while maintaining security and reliability. SASE enables the convergence of networking and security in the cloud to deliver secure access to applications, anywhere users work.

That’s why Meraki is announcing the general availability (GA) of the Meraki Umbrella SD-WAN connector, which integrates the Meraki MX security and SD-WAN appliance with Cisco Umbrella to enable rapid deployment of cloud security across your SD-WAN network.

I'm excited to announce that RCA for Web App health is now GA.🎉

This feature looks at 6 key triggers and informs the customers on:

• Root cause of the issue
• The alert generated stating the app problem
• The confidence in the root cause
• The evidence that triggered the alert
• Impact on clients
• Recommended next steps