Oskar, Do you think there may be a change in this policy?  We are about to do a large purchase of a different product so maybe I will hold off through the week.  If you hear something please report back.   Jamey ... View more

I have exhausted all efforts in working with Meraki.  Their model is just not geared towards a true MSP solution.  They will not allow me to register any equipment in my name even though I own it unless I do it as an NFR deal in which can only be used in a customer environment.  It is clear they do not want the reseller/MSP to be mix.  I cannot even get a reason from them other than this is just the way it is which is even more frustrating.  At this point I will just abandon using Meraki in our MSP solution.  I have been evaluating some other products and though I have not found a solution that covers all the major components, firewall, switch and access point, I have found a couple of other products that are very channel/MSP friendly.  Unfortunately I will not have a single pane of glass to manage these other products I have sound some great alternate solutions.  ... View more

I started evaluating other vendors for a solution that could work in a more friendly MSP model. I was doing a demo with a product and was told they have an executive that just came on board that worked at Meraki.  I am supposed to get a call from him next week about their product and MSP offerings (including the ability to white label :) ) and plan to pick his brain on the reasoning Meraki is being so difficult to deal with. I am hoping he might open up with suggestions that I am not being told about.  I need to get a solution or work around soon so I will report back what he says and if he has any ideas on how to deal with this.  He may just say that it is the way it is and there are not going to be any work around.  I was hoping someone from Meraki might chime in on this post but unfortunately not.   ... View more

Here is a quick update.  Spent another day fighting the battle and did not make any progress.  I did get a response from a Cisco manager at one of the distributors today which I guess sums it up pretty well.  It is a no go.  Here is the response I received:   Jamey, I apologize but there is no circumstance under which Meraki will allow us to place an order where the reseller shares a domain with the EU.  Furthermore, there are zero resellers that I am aware of that stock Meraki on their own shelves.    If you wish to purchase a Meraki unit as a client demo, you are absolutely welcome to create an NFR deal in CCW and process this as such.  However, as the name implies, you won’t be permitted resell it.  Similarly, purchasing a unit for one EU and then installing it elsewhere is not supported by Meraki and, can void the warranty and cause issues for the EU should they have problems.    Alternately, there is the Meraki Try and Buy program.  In general, this is where you work directly with a Meraki Rep, they get you a unit to try it out at an EU and, if they like it, they keep it and, if they don’t, then you can return it and no invoice will be generated.  There are some time limitations on this transaction (30 days I think) and, there will still be a CCW deal required to process the order (and a specified EU).    With all of that having been said, your choices are: Purchase the unit with an EU specified (with a legitimate EU Domain) Purchase the unit as an NFR (with an NFR Deal in place) Purchase the unit as a Try and Buy (work with Meraki AM to coordinate)   As I mentioned earlier, I think Cisco spent a good bit of time working through this to ensure they maintain control of the end user regardless of who owns the equipment.  So, I guess I submit my customer information or find another solution.  This doesn't seem very partner friendly but it is what it is.      ... View more

Oskar, I am in the southeast US.  You may be correct but here is another tidbit. When I try to purchase equipment or licensing I have never been rejected based on me putting my company name on the order.  They always kick it back referencing the email address. They say that if I want to purchase hardware under my name it MUST (no exceptions) be tied to an NFR deal.  I do not need or want it to be under an NFR.  If it is tied to an NFR then I do not think I can use it in my MSP model.  I think the reason Meraki is doing this is to control the customer information.  Someone suggested to just do the NFR and place it on the customer site and be done with it.  I do not want to get caught up in that mess with them coming back later and pulling me as a reseller or something else.  I do not think their requirement to do this under an NFR is an accident but by design.  There has to be an easier solution. ... View more

Thank you for your thoughts BrendtSchamp, The model I wanted to use was to purchase the hardware and software under my name but register the licenses to a separate email address that we create under our domain.  For example, Customer1@xyz.com, customer2@xyz.com...  This would allow us to manage the licenses separately from each other.  This would allow me to purchase 1, 3 or 5 year licenses based on the contract the customer signed.  In addition, this would prevent me needing to have all the licenses be coterminous across all the customers. If a customer decided not to renew at the end of the contract or wanted to upgrade to higher end equipment it makes managing the licenses much easier.   This would also give me a separate dashboard to manage each customer and also offer them a restricted log in to view things if they wanted to.  Lastly, we would bring each "site" under the MSP portal to manage vs logging in to each one separately and also give me the ability to assign specific techs to specific sites.   I spoke with one of my distributors who thought this is the perfect way to do this. This keeps everything separate and very easy to manage.    I do not understand what the issues is with Meraki and ownership of the hardware and license.  The get the same amount of money either way.  By having the customer name on the hardware and licenses makes things complicated and sticky from a legal standpoint.  I guess they expect you to cover this in your contract.   As for stocking hardware without a license I was told this is not allowed either.  If I want to purchase hardware to stock then I have to provide end user information, which is something I cannot provide since this is a stock item which we do not have customer info yet.  I could stock some other brand and install it temporarily and then come back out to put in the Meraki equipment after it has come in.  But that requires two site visits and two down times for the customer. All inconveniences because of Meraki's requirements.   I am not sure that Meraki is going to allow me to have a model as I described above so I was hoping the forum might offer some hope before i abandon this and move on to another product.   Thanks again for your thoughts. ... View more