Switches and routers management in the cloud! Could this be future?

Question

A Meraki switch(now bought by cisco) was dumped at my desk by my director to see if it can suit our new needs for a new network.

Meraki is a depature from what a network engineer is used to. Those cli ninja skills are not needed as it doesnt come with any console port or accessible OS.

Everything is done through th web browser. And to add more easy of management, it is accessed and managed through the cloud. It updates itself and comes with lifetime warrant.

Now this is a direct threat to network guys as anybody even without network training can plug it and make it work.

My boss is on my case asking what l think. Truely speaking, lm loving it. Bt it also means he can manage the network himself easily. It even shows you thru cloud if a port or switch goes down and you can link it to google map for location based.

The question is, should l recommend Cisco( thereby getting job security) or Meraki?

Answer 1

seriously you have no choice if it's already on your desk use it. Meraki is now Cisco Meraki  & the difference is the same :-)

It's safer to recommend things before hand, if things get dumped at your desk you can't condemn them. Use them and make sure you go through their manual or guides. Any device is equally good accept otherwise. Cisco bought Meraki a while ago so the two are now 1. Make sure you're running the latest firmware and you are configuring it using the best practices. Job security is only guaranteed by doing more with less and supporting the business objectives

Comments

Im testing it and everyday lm discovering something new l like about  it. Its only it makes it so easy to manage a network especially if its spread around different geo locations.

Thats means no travelling and sleeping in posh hotels!!
No more claiming huge salaries as someone with basic network knowledge can manage it.

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Seriously as a 20 year veteran of Enterprise networking with one of the world’s largest System Integrators I would and should be worried about life expectancy as a traditional network engineer in today’s cloud evolving market.  
Luckily for me I have progressed my career and moved into security, WiFi & and mobility.  Hang on a minute Cisco-Meraki can do that as well.
Meraki products rock and cloud management is a snap.
Be interested to see when the general Cisco corporate juggernaut follows – guess they are trying to sweat their current traditional asset set first.
Time will tell.