Meraki

Cisco Meraki is a cloud-managed networking and security platform that provides centralized administration for wired, wireless, security, and Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure across distributed environments.

• Cloud-managed wired and wireless networking infrastructure for branch, campus, and distributed sites.
• Network security, Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), and secure connectivity services integrated with centralized management.
• Cloud-managed cameras and sensors (IoT/physical security) with web-based monitoring and analytics.
• Endpoint and access control capabilities, including device management and policy enforcement.
• Web-based and API-driven management, monitoring, and automation for network and connected devices.

More About Meraki

Cisco Meraki provides a cloud-managed platform for enterprise networking, security, and IoT operations across multi-site and hybrid environments. Its core offering is a centralized management console (network management) hosted in the cloud that administrators use to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot distributed infrastructure without on-premises (on-prem) controllers. This management layer supports wired switching (campus and access networking), wireless Local Area Network (LAN) (enterprise Wi‑Fi), security appliances (network security and SD‑WAN), and IoT devices such as smart cameras and environmental sensors (physical security and facilities monitoring).

Enterprises deploy Cisco Meraki in branch offices, retail locations, education campuses, healthcare facilities, and remote sites to standardize network policies and visibility. The cloud-managed architecture (network operations) allows configuration templates, role-based administration, and remote diagnostics across thousands of devices and sites. This model uses secure communication between on-prem hardware and the Meraki cloud, typically leveraging standard IP networking and encrypted management tunnels. Network traffic forwarding remains local while management and telemetry are handled through the cloud service.

Cisco Meraki’s wireless and switching products (enterprise networking) support standard protocols such as 802.11 Wi‑Fi, Ethernet, VLANs, and 802.1X-based access control. Security appliances and SD‑WAN features (network security and Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity) are used for site-to-site Virtual Private Network (VPN), internet breakout policies, and application-aware routing. Integration with identity services and directory systems supports centralized authentication and policy enforcement. The platform exposes RESTful APIs (IT automation and integration) that enterprises use for configuration management, monitoring, and integration with IT service management and analytics tools.

The Meraki dashboard (cloud management) presents inventory, topology, configuration, and performance telemetry in a single web interface, with capabilities for alerting, reporting, and firmware lifecycle management. This positions Cisco Meraki within marketplace categories such as enterprise networking, network security, SD‑WAN, Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), and IoT device management. Because management is delivered as a cloud service, organizations can add or replace branch and campus equipment while maintaining consistent configuration and monitoring workflows.

Within an enterprise technology directory, Cisco Meraki aligns to categories including cloud-managed LAN and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) (enterprise networking), Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) and secure gateway (network security), software-defined WAN (SD‑WAN), and cloud-based physical security and environmental monitoring (IoT/vision systems). Its focus on centralized configuration, monitoring, and policy across geographically distributed assets places it alongside other cloud-based network management and security platforms used by infrastructure, security, and operations teams.