We had a customer request that we upgrade the network for their multi-tenant office environment. We had already installed an MX64 security appliance for them a few years ago when another vendor's firewall suddenly failed.   The customer requested that we upgrade both the wired and wireless network for all of the offices. The property consists of 10 tenant offices and the main management office for the building. Before the upgrade, all of the offices were on the same wired network and the wireless network coverage was so poor that several of the office tenants had installed their own wireless routers.   The wiring closet for the property was also serving as a broom closet and the cleaning staff had  managed to knock both the power and ethernet cables loose several times.   We installed a new MS210-48FP switch in the wall mount rack in the wiring closet and installed three new CW9162I wireless access points in the office areas to provide seamless wireless coverage. We also installed an APC short depth Lithium-Ion Smart UPS with Smart Connect cloud management. We needed the short depth UPS because of the short rack depth. Their was also only one power outlet available in the closet and we needed to back up all of the network and ISP equipment with a single UPS. We also installed some much needed cable management, although we were limited by available rack space.   One other request from the customer and their tenants was that each tenant had their own isolated wired and wireless network VLAN that other tenants could not connect to. Each tenant would only be able to access the equipment on their VLAN and the internet. This was a perfect fit for Identity PSK without RADIUS and Group Policies. We did not use WPN because wired network clients cannot communicate with wireless clients on the same VLAN when it is implemented.   IPSK allowed us to only advertise two SSIDs (office and guest wireless) and Group Policies isolated each office's VLAN from the others. Depending on what PSK was used by each wireless client determined which VLAN that client would have access to. The wired connections in each office were configured at the switchports to determine which VLAN they would have access to. Their was also a shared conference room and this was also covered by the wireless network and the tenants could meet in it and still have access to their own office networks.   Because of the new MS210 switch and the new APs, we were also able to turn on the Secure Port feature for the network and secure the AP to switch connections with certificates to provide additional network security.   The customer and their tenants are very happy with the new wired and wireless performance and security. The customer enjoys the fact that they can easily change the PSK for each office as tenants move in and out.   Here is the wiring closet before the upgrade. typical wiring mess spaghetti hell   Here is the wiring closet after the network upgrade was complete. The green patch cables are analog phone lines for each office. This will lead to a future replacement with a Cisco VOIP system and the new switch can provide power protected PoE to the new phones. It's amazing how some cable management and Velcro can improve the project.  cable management makes a big difference no dangling cables to be snagged     ... View more

We had a customer request that we upgrade the networks in two of their bars. Both bars were located in strip shopping center locations. One of the bars had very poor cellular service, to the point that customers and employees could not reliably make or receive cell phone calls. Both bars have Point of Sale systems and both bars needed reliable networks in order to accommodate the ever increasing number of sporting events that are only available via internet streaming services.   The first bar was about 50% larger than the second bar. They had a consumer class router/access point that was not capable of covering the entire location. They had a second router/access point that was connected to the first router in an attempt to provide more wireless coverage. It had been compromised from attacks over the internet.   We installed a wall mount cabinet, along with a CAT 6 patch panel and cable management. We installed all new CAT 6 ethernet cabling and jacks to all of the network devices, including three new GR12 Wifi6 indoor wireless access points. We installed a GX50 security appliance, with the optional Umbrella security license and two GS110-8P switches. We installed a new APC Smart UPS to carry the network and ISP equipment, along with an NVR and several IP cameras.   We had to figure out how to mount the GR12 APs to I-beams below the roof of the building. We used beam clamps and had to make some minor modifications to the AP mounting plates in order to get the beam clamps to attach to the plates securely and still be able to mount the APs to the plates.   This is the new wall mount network cabinet that we installed. Wall mount cabinet   This is the rack mounted network equipment with structured cable management. Rack mounted network equipment   This is what the beam clamps looked like that we attached to the AP brackets. We had to drill out the holes a little in order to get the bolts to fit. beam clamps   The second bar had a small wall mount rack in a closet and the previous installer had no concept of cable management.   What a mess!   We installed a second wall mount rack, a GX50 with the optional Umbrella security license, two GS110-8P switches, a new cable modem and an APC Smart UPS with Smart Connect cloud management. Nice and clean!   This bar was smaller than the first bar and we only had to install two GR12 Wifi6 indoor APs to cover it correctly. The new guest wireless network allowed customers to use Wi-Fi calling on their cell phones, which solved the poor cellular service issue. We isolated the guest wireless VLAN and applied bandwidth throttling to it at both locations. We also isolated the POS VLAN from the rest of the network VLANs for PCI compliance at both locations.   The customer is thrilled with how responsive and reliable the networks are at both bars and they really like the weekly email reports about the customer insights at both locations.   Here are examples of the proximity, engagement and loyalty reports for one of the locations.   Proximity report   Engagement report Loyalty report   ... View more

This was the second Meraki Go network installation that we completed in August 2022. This customer makes custom stone countertops for homes. The customer had taken a lightning strike that destroyed some of their computers and consumer class network equipment. The customer told us that they had been suffering with horrible network problems before the lightning strike as well. We installed a new wall mount network cabinet in their break room / network closet. We installed a GX20 security appliance with the optional Umbrella security license. We installed two GS110-8P switches, along with a CAT 6 patch panel and cable management. We went with the GS110-8P switches because it was slightly cheaper to go with two 8 port switches instead of a 24 port switch.  We installed a single GR10 indoor wireless access point in the office area of the business. We installed all new CAT 6 ethernet cabling and wall mount jacks. We migrated the ISP managed video surveillance system over to one of the two 8 port switches and isolated it on its own VLAN, which the ISP only has access to. We setup the office and guest wireless SSIDs and isolated the wireless guests and throttled their internet bandwidth. We installed an APC Smart UPS with Smart Connect cloud management and an additional PDU to connect all of the network equipment along with the NVR and File Server to it. Other than the rare extended power outage or ISP outage, the network had been rock solid and the customer loves it with zero complaints.   This is the disaster we inherited. This is the disaster that we inherited   This is what the final installation looks like. Here is the clean wall after the install   This is all that is left of the previous mess. It is part of their hosted VOIP system. This is what was left of the previous mess   This is what a rack mount network installation and structured cabling should look like. This is what a rack mount solution is supposed to look like.   This is the wall mount cabinet with the network and power equipment and a file server and NVR installed below it. This is the wall mount cabinet, along with the NVR and File Server. ... View more

This was the first Meraki Go network that we had ever installed in May 2022. It was for a small law office with 5 employees. They had 7 desktop computers, 2 servers and 3 printers. The customer had experienced a cyber security event where their email account (yep, only one account for the entire office, don't get me started on that) credentials had been compromised and they realized they need a more secure network infrastructure. We installed a GX20 security appliance with the optional Umbrella security license, a GS110-24P switch and a GR10 indoor wireless access point. We setup two wireless SSIDs, one for the office use and one for wireless guests. We configured the firewall to isolate the wireless guests from the office network users and throttled their internet bandwidth to prevent a DOS attack. We also installed a new APC UPS with Smart Connect cloud monitoring. The new UPS is protecting the firewall, switch and cable modem. Another APC Backups UPS is protecting the two servers. All of the desktop computers have their own small APC UPS units protecting them. Since we completed the network and power upgrades, the customer has had zero network or cybersecurity issues. This scenario was a perfect example of what the Meraki Go product line is meant to cover.   GX20 and GR110-24P Servers ... View more