We've been recognizing customers and partners each month for outstanding community contributions; this month, we're also recognizing Meraki employees who have generously given their time and knowledge to the community.     November 2017 Meraki Community EMPLOYEE Members of the Month   @MerakiDave 54 kudos @GeorgeB 20 kudos @RyanB 12 kudos    @MerakiDave is a Pre-Sales Systems Engineer based on the east coast of the US; he has posted 97 times and received 67 kudos since he joined in mid-October. Thanks, @MerakiDave!   @GeorgeB, the lead product manager for the MV, has been active on the Security Cameras board and was the guest of honor in our first-ever Community-powered AMA ("Ask Me Anything").   Finally, @RyanB is a Systems Engineer who has contributed to boards across the community, including a video of a black bear sleeping at his door!   Thanks, you three! A small token of our appreciation is flying your way. Thanks to ALL Meraki employees who have contributed since we launched!  ... View more

Hi ya'll!   We're contemplating opening up a "Water Cooler" board here on the community for discussions about, well, anything*. Is this something you'd contribute to and/or read? If so, give this post a kudos!   Also, reply to this post with any ideas for a good name for this "Off-topic" / "Water Cooler" board!   Thanks! - Caroline   * appropriate caveats about being respectful / in compliance with community guidelines / etc     ... View more

It's Members of the Month (MOTM) shout-out time again!   November 2017 Meraki Community Members of the Month @PhilipDAth 108 kudos @WadeAlsup 42 kudos @Mr_IT_Guy 36 kudos @jared_f 26 kudos   For the 3rd straight month, @PhilipDAth leads the pack; this time with a record-setting 108 kudos. Congrats, Philip, and thank you for your continued contributions.   @WadeAlsup is our 2nd-place MOTM, with a fantastic 42 kudos. Wade is our featured member this month - read more about him below!   @Mr_IT_Guy remains a MOTM for the 3rd straight month, with 36 kudos. Read more about him (and his dog Maui) in our October Members of the Month announcement.   Finally, we welcome a new MOTM - @jared_f who has made valuable contributions in the Mobility Management board in particular. At just 16 years old, Jared is certainly our youngest-ever MOTM and perhaps our youngest community member!   Congrats, everyone, and thank you for your contributions! We have some great swag this month; hope you like it!     Q & A with Wade Alsup I had a few questions for Wade Alsup, this month's featured member.   Tell us a bit about yourself and your experience with Meraki. I’m 29 and live in Wichita Falls, Texas. I’ve been in the IT world for about 10 years and an avid Meraki user the last 2 and a half years. I started at Air Tractor (we make Big Yellow Cropdusters, among a few other aircraft, and have a network of dealers around the world) in early 2014 in a newly created position as the first true IT employee. Using the Meraki full-stack has really helped me retroactively accommodate to Air Tractor's growth over the last 10 years.    Any particular Meraki product / feature that you're particularly fond of or couldn't live without? As the only current IT guy here, I don’t think I could live without the Dashboard. That single pane of glass approach really gives me time to focus on other tasks like server administration, desktop support, and developmental tasks in our ERP. As the whole IT department, that is a Godsend for me!   How does the community help you in your day-to-day work? The community has been such a stress reliever for me. The fact that daily there are other IT folk that are seeing issues that I’ve seen and haven’t… it’s that reality of our positions and the fact that we aren’t alone… it’s nice to have that support to lean on as well. I love the Meraki Community!   Thanks, Wade!     Official terms & conditions for the Members of the Month awards ... View more

Did you ever want to ask questions directly of a Meraki Product Manager? Here’s your chance! NOW through 12pm Pacific, our own @GeorgeB is manning the Security Cameras board to answer all MV-related questions in our first community AMA (“Ask Me Anything”).   So head on over to the Security Cameras board and ask away! Please post each question as a new topic in the Security Cameras board.   UPDATE: The AMA is closed now, but feel free to ask your MV questions on the Security Cameras board. You can also read the AMA questions and George's answers. ... View more

Did you ever want to ask questions directly of a Meraki Product Manager? Here’s your chance! On Wednesday (Nov 29) from 9am - 12pm Pacific, our own @GeorgeB will be manning the Security Cameras board to answer all MV-related questions in our first community AMA (“Ask Me Anything”).   So think of a question or two you’d like to ask George. On Wednesday, head on over to the Security Cameras board and ask away!   UPDATE: The AMA is closed now, but feel free to ask your MV questions on the Security Cameras board. You can also read the AMA questions and George's answers. ... View more

Thank you to everyone who participated in our first Community Challenge! We were blown away by the quality and quantity of responses.      Without further ado, the winners:   Community Favorite (based on number of kudos) Meraki Favorite (chosen by a panel of Meraki judges) @geoffbernard 21 kudos! Read his entry @SergeRobert1 Read his entry   The Meraki Favorite answer was chosen by a distinguished panel of Meraki employees - a systems engineer, a support manager, an architect, and a technical trainer. The panel appreciated @SergeRobert1's emphasis on the full-stack approach. His submission demonstrated an in-depth understanding of best practice security policies, next generation threat detection, and end-to-end organizational security across multiple technology disciplines.   And, while we can't tell you exactly why 21 community members gave kudos to @geoffbernard's entry, we can tell you that this was over twice the number of kudos of the next-most-kudoed submission.   Congratulations to you both, and stay tuned for a PM from me about claiming your prize! ... View more

We've had a great response to our first Community Challenge - 23 28 32 entries so far! Whether you're entering the challenge or not, please peruse the entries and give kudos to your favorite(s). One prize will be awarded for the entry with the most kudos (and another from a panel of Meraki judges).   Vote now!   (And it's not too late to respond to the challenge yourself! The challenge is open for submissions through Monday, 5pm Pacific)         ... View more

It’s Members of the Month shout-out time again!   @PhilipDAth again leads the pack, with a remarkable 97 kudos and 347 posts in October. Read more about Philip in our September Members of the Month announcement. @Mr_IT_Guy, also known as Joe Galindez from the Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group in Virginia Beach, wins the (unofficial) awesome-post-of-the-month prize for his fantastic picture of his pom-chi Maui. Joe has consistently been at the top of our leaderboards since before the community was even open to the public. Read below for a short Q&A with Joe.   @WadeAlsup is a first-time Member of the Month, with 27 kudos and 55 posts in October. Thanks for joining us, Wade!   @MilesMeraki continues his kudos streak with 26 kudos in October (following on a strong 23-kudos September).     October 2017 Meraki Community Members of the Month @PhilipDAth 97 kudos   @Mr_IT_Guy 27 kudos @WadeAlsup 27 kudos @MilesMeraki 26 kudos   Meraki swag is flying towards all of you. What will it be this month? (Post a picture here when you receive it!)   Thank you to EVERYONE who contributed in October. This community keeps getting better and better!   Q&A with Mr_IT_Guy   @Mr_IT_Guy, also known as Joe Galindez, is a Network Administrator with the Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group in Virginia Beach. Atlantic Bay runs the full Meraki stack to support over 90 locations.    I asked Joe a few questions:   How does the community help you in your day-to-day work? The community is a great place to bounce ideas off other Meraki users. If I’m having a problem or want to try to do something with the Meraki gear, I know that I can come to the forum and get some direction.   What would you say to those that haven't yet gotten involved with the community? Even though the community is only a few months old, there is already a wealth of knowledge there. If you haven’t already gotten involved, then just do it! There are great people in the community and with everyone’s contributions, we can make it better than it already is.   Any particular Meraki product / feature that you’re particularly fond of or couldn’t live without? Auto VPN is my favorite Meraki feature. The ability to easily join new branches to our network has made it easy for us to expand our company.   We all love the picture of your Pom-Chi Maui with the Meraki-sock-sweater. Tell us more about Maui! Maui is a 3-month old Pom-Chi. We had been looking to get a dog for a while and my wife surprised me with him a couple weeks ago. He’s very fond of my wife and has finally taken a liking to me. Since he’s a little toy dog and the weather here in VA has been getting colder, we needed to get him something to keep him warm. Being 10pm, my wife decided to improvise and use a sock of mine. When I told my boss about it the next day, he recommended I post the photo on the forum. Luckily I have a spare pair of Meraki socks! With a little more of my wife’s creativity, we can make version 2 of the sweater even better!   Thanks, Joe!     Official terms & conditions for the Members of the Month awards ... View more