Meraki Unboxed Podcast

A lot has happened since Cisco Meraki technology evolved beyond networking. In this episode we're looking at ways in which our smart cameras and environmental sensors are addressing modern challenges and changing experiences for businesses, their customers, and their employees.

Join us for a conversation with Cisco Meraki CTO Bret Hull. He's been with the organization since 2010 and discusses the journey along with the changes and evolution of our engineering team through the years. Not only has he built a very successful engineering team in the US, but he has expanded the team globally. Bret’s story is an example of how we invest in our employees.

As offices around the world come back to life, how can we ensure they work more safely and efficiently than before? Technology is ready to help, and PlaceOS is one of the companies working at the intersection of experiences, safety, and sustainability in workspaces. In this discussion with PlaceOS CIO, we look at the Meraki and other technology that's helping ensure we return to better offices.

June is Pride month, and we can't think of a better way to celebrate than to have some amazing Cisco Meraki employees on our episode today. Join us for a discussion with Daniel Jones, Kate Nicholson, and Emily Sporl, who are a part of Meraki’s  QFAM ERO (Queers and Friends at Meraki employee resource organization). We’ll be discussing an array of topics including a deeper dive into our QFAM ERO and the progress of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) efforts. Also taking time to acknowledge the darker moments and the struggle against discrimination. This conversation is impactful, powerful, and important.

Cisco Meraki VP of Marketing Rebecca Stone and VP of Sales Jason Pernell join this week's Meraki Unboxed to discuss the dramatic pace of global transformation in digital technology, why business leaders need to embrace the changes that are coming, and how the upcoming Meraki Network event will set them up to thrive in the future hi-tech economy. Register for the Meraki Network, happening on June 16th: https://events.meraki.net/merakinetworkevent

Jessica Gilbert (Meraki's head of Diversity and Collaboration) will take us through a conversation about Meraki's D&I efforts and how they play into Cisco's larger story. You'll learn more about our strategic partnerships, how to think more intentionally about inclusive behaviors, and you'll walk away with actionable steps to create a more inclusive team.

Join us for an insightful conversation with Jenna Linskens, Director of Learning & Innovative Technology of Ithaca College, on lessons learned in the last 14 months in higher education.

We hope you've enjoyed the first 50 episodes of Meraki Unboxed. Please keep your episode ideas and feedback coming by messaging our host on Twitter: @merakisimon or on the Meraki Community: community.meraki.com

Seemingly every industry is going through a technology based transformation, and Financial Services are no exception. In this episode we discuss what specific trends are shaping the new financial services world, and how Meraki and Cisco technology are playing their part.

Join us for an insightful conversation with Cisco Canada President Shannon Leininger. March is Women's History Month - and Shannon delivers a powerful message about what it means to truly find purpose in the work you do. She's an absolute master at finding what fuels her, and allowing that to pour over into the work she does everyday. She opens up about the power of vulnerability, discusses the importance of transparency, and gives us all an opportunity to create a more inclusive environment through the power of curiosity.

Join us for a fascinating discussion with IDC Research Director Dr William Lee, who takes us on a journey through our evolving technology landscape, and how we, as humans, are adapting to the changed world around us. This exploration into IT trends touches on many areas we know well, and provokes us to think about how we can use technology to help us confidently move ahead.

We've come a long way from the days of working in the office with the servers in a room next door. Today we're working from anywhere and everywhere, and our servers have been fragmented into myriad cloud based applications, also located anywhere and everywhere. This presents a challenge for IT teams who are trying to provide secure, authorized access to network resources. SASE, pronounced 'sassy', takes on this challenge, and in this episode we introduce the concept, explaining why it's so relevant in our new normal.

Today we're in conversation with Denise Thomas, the Chief Operating Officer at Meraki, with a deep dive into her career, how she landed at Meraki, and discussing why diversity and inclusion are deeply important to Meraki Values, and our framework as an organization. February is Black History Month - we talk about our amazing employee resource group called 'Connected Black Professionals' and why groups like these are so important to our company DNA.

Feeling entrepreneurial? Interested in running a Managed Service business? In this episode we talk to someone who walked that path and built something special, leveraging the Meraki Platform. Our guest is a fan of the podcast who reached out with this episode idea. 

New for 2021, we're starting a series of occasional episodes focused on a specific industry, looking at some of the trends, challenges and technology use cases we see in those industries. To kick off, we're starting with the world of manufacturing, an industry experiencing perhaps its biggest change since the industrial revolution.

Happy New Year! We're kicking off with something special. Holly Dowling is an Inspirational Thought Leader. She has infused her over 20 years of extensive management and leadership experience with her passion for inspiring others to discover their untapped potential and brilliance. Today we sit down with Holly and explore her secrets to untapping your potential, we explore staying connected in this virtual world, and how to create an inclusive work environment.

Here we are at the end of 2020. This is a year we'll probably never forget, as much as might like to. In this final episode of 2020 we invite three guests from the Meraki Community to share their reflections on this crazy year, and look ahead to a new year and new projects. Thank you for listening to Meraki Unboxed in 2020. Stay safe and we'll see you back here soon!

2020 has challenged us all in many ways, and although many aspects of our lives have been disrupted this year, our networks have kept on going and have never been a more valuable resource. Some things never change, and networks need maintaining and refreshing, even when there are practical challenges in the way. In this episode we discuss some of the dynamics around maintaining healthy networks with a special guest with many years of frontline experience, and also the product marketing lead for Meraki switches.

Computer vision has enormous potential to help us see what's important in the world around us, without the need to be physically present. The Meraki MV Smart Camera opens the door to computer vision, especially thanks to its APIs, which allow developers to build custom applications that can exploit the camera's full abilities. One company that's done this particularly well is Everyangle, and in this episode we get into a fascinating discussion about the potential for the technology, as well as some of Everyangle's customer solutions.

As we enter the holiday season we're reminded of the importance of giving, and giving back. Like any other company, we're part of a wider community, and Merakians are always pursuing ways to contribute to the local community, important societal causes, and raising awareness. In this episode we discuss Meraki Gives, our Employee Resource Organizations, and the timely topic of Movember! 

Technology can only truly advance by embracing simplicity. IoT has been with us for years, yet the reality of applying IoT to business challenges too often means point solutions and complexity. That's just not the Meraki way, and so in this episode you'll hear all about how we're taking a different approach with our latest product line, sensors.

Cisco Meraki was born in the cloud, in 2006. Since then the platform on which all Meraki products and features rests has grown beyond all recognition, and today is more capable and efficient than ever. A recent shift to an API-first strategy has set Meraki up for its next phase of growth, and also provides a wealth of opportunity to developers looking to take advantage of network programmability to build custom solutions to the world's challenges. Today's discussion covers all of this and provides pointers to how you can get started on your own Meraki Platform journey.

This week we return to the topic of Meraki APIs, in a discussion with kontakt.io, a technology partner that has found a creative way to unite their beacons with Meraki hardware and APIs to solve some common and emerging business challenges. We also discuss the hub through which developers can share their solutions, apps.meraki.io

We spend a lot of time talking about how Meraki products and features can solve real world challenges here on Meraki Unboxed, but we've never focused purely on the hardware. Today we're putting that right with an interview with our Head of Hardware, one of the earliest employees at Meraki, who provides some fascinating insight into what goes into developing and packaging the hardware we sell, along with some great stories from the early days of the company.

As organizations contemplate a future with more remote working and learning, it's more important than ever to identify efficient ways to support dispersed employees and students at scale. For many years, Meraki Systems Manager has been supporting the management of up to tens of thousands of devices, regardless of their location, so it's more than up to the task at hand. In this episode we welcome back Amelie from our Product Marketing team to discuss some of the attributes and features of Systems Manager that can ease the burden of IT teams tasked with supporting large scale, and enduring, remote working and learning.

One of the sectors to have suffered greatly in 2020 is unquestionably education. For students, faculty and staff alike, it's been an extremely trying time that has highlighted challenges with the use of technology for online learning, particularly in terms of access and, for those contemplating some form of in-person learning, safety. We are joined by two IT leaders from two large scale State Universities, for a discussion about their experiences and how they're looking ahead to the new academic year.

Back in March, the whole team at Cisco, like so many companies around the world, migrated to working from home in response to the pandemic. It's been a turbulent time for everyone, in so many ways. What's vital for businesses everywhere is ongoing productivity, and IT is at the heart of it all in this new reality. For this episode we welcome back Ryan Ansley, our Head of IT at Meraki who joined us to share his career story in Episode 19. This time we're talking about how his team has adapted to the sudden shock back in March, both on a technical and human level.

It's one thing to be able to work from home in the midst of a pandemic, but quite another to recreate an IT experience like being in the office. With authentication, performance and security to consider, IT teams are looking for solutions, not more headaches. In today's episode we focus on practical ways in which our teleworker appliance can transform the experience of working from home, or from anywhere!

There's always been a case for flexible networking solutions, accommodating remote or temporary sites, and to provide backup. That case has been further strengthened by the pandemic, which has thrown up considerable productivity challenges for us all. The Meraki Cellular Gateway makes it easier to take advantage of cellular networks where regular ISP connectivity may be limited, or even to augment those with redundancy. Join us for a deep dive into the use cases and technology behind our cellular gateway.

The FCC in the US recently announced a signifcant expansion of radio spectrum reserved for use by Wi-Fi technology. In a world filled with mobile devices and appliances, this specturm will help to ensure we can continue to enjoy good performance, with less congestion, for years to come. In today's episode we discuss the merits of Wi-Fi 6E and look forward to its adoption in the years ahead.

The global pandemic has forced unforeseen challenges on us all. The teams at Cisco Meraki are no exception, where from early March we've all been working remotely. In this episode we're in discussion with our Support Lead for EMEA, talking about the experiences of his team in this trying time, and how they pulled together to maintain a consistent support experience for customers.