Congrats to Meraki team. Another exit for Sequoia. Looks like they had an excellent year where companies like Palo Alto Networks, Kayak, LinkedIn that went public (and doing well). And companies like Instagram, Meraki got acquired for north of billion dollars.
Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
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Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#12Interesting, never realized they offer a free MDM (MAM) solution.
There's not a lot of documentation, but Systems Manager is solid. I've been testing the Android client and found it stable and well-behaved.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#13wow, i thought meraki is doing just so-so comparing to UBNT
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#14Neat.
Every time I find a company that I think is worth working for, I spend time on a good cover letter to try to get interest or even play around with their API and build something simple. Meraki was one of those companies I cared enough to write about, I believe, but I never heard back from them. I seem to not be good enough to be hired but good enough to recognize the best, lol.
Perhaps I should start a newsletter.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#15Interesting, never realized they offer a free MDM (MAM) solution.
we replaced Casper suite for Meraki's free MDM solution, has been amazing for us. Just recently started to test some of their AP's, and have been really impressed.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#16I wonder how similar this is to Ubiquiti's UniFi enterprise WiFi system. I'm a big fan, UniFi is just excellent as is their point to point/WISP solution airMAX, very inexpensive too. For example, I recently set up an airMAX 280Mbps point to point link over about 1/2 mile using 2x Nanostation M5's for ... $140! Their airFiber system gives you 1.4Gbps over up to 10km for about $2.5K for the pair of radios.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#17I think Meraki was the 4th startup that I ever invested in (first was Wufoo). When we visited their office in Mountain View, it was full of "Meraki Minis" (their first batch of hardware). I asked how much money they had raised so far, and their response was, "none". They were so scrappy that they had managed to build the first batch (which was partially pre-sold) for practically nothing. And they somehow got the offi…
How do you find good hardware companies? They seem to be rare. I imagine they come to you but for someone like me, I am at a loss.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#18One of the things mentioned in the acquisition FAQ was that one of the key differentiators was the Meraki business model. Can anyone shed more light on exactly what is different? EDIT: Also, since I have never priced any of their gear before, any idea on ballpark costs (list) would be nice.
Cisco: Buy hardware and associated licenses to use them with a WiFi control "box", then purchase optional support contracts to receive replacements/repairs when/if hardware breaks.
Meraki: Buy hardware and a time-based license per unit, typically for three years. No additional costs.
With the Cisco gear you can buy hardware and essentially use it forever just for the upfront cost. With Meraki you buy the hardware then pay on a regular basis to Meraki to continue using it with their cloud control software.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#19One of the things mentioned in the acquisition FAQ was that one of the key differentiators was the Meraki business model. Can anyone shed more light on exactly what is different? EDIT: Also, since I have never priced any of their gear before, any idea on ballpark costs (list) would be nice.
I guess there are two things. Their management tools are SaaS, with all the benefits that brings. This was originally considered pretty radical since many customers viewed the cloud as unreliable and insecure.
Also, their equipment apparently turns into a brick if you stop paying your support contract (because you'd no longer have any way to manage it). This is not really a problem for many customers who have a policy of keeping active support contracts on everything, but it goes against what people are used to.
Re: Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash
#20Congratulations Meraki, very well deserved!
I just wonder if they had continued their run, could they have IPO-ed at a much higher valuation? They seem to have both very strong product and business fundamentals. Would love to hear thoughts on this..