Cisco Meraki is focused on simplifying IT and the Meraki Cloud Management platform—the Meraki dashboard—is already being used by more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Since 2006, the Meraki portfolio has grown from wireless to networking to a full stack of IT solutions, all 100% managed in the cloud.
Over the past 20 years, IT systems have become amazingly powerful but also complex and cumbersome. At Meraki, we envision IT that needs no complicated maintenance or monitoring, is as easy to deploy as a light bulb, and doesn’t require large budgets or staff. We analyze areas where IT managers spend their time and budget. If there’s a way for cloud management to significantly make their lives easier, we’re going to explore it.
New Community, New API
With the launch of the Meraki Developers Community, we are announcing the new Meraki Dashboard API for network automation and releasing free open source apps for Bluetooth beacons, analytics, and authentication. The new Meraki Dashboard API is now available to all developers and we have already seen this API adopted by some of the largest Meraki networks.
As part of Cisco DNA, Meraki is dedicated to building the most accessible APIs for developers to manage IT, access analytics, and drive user engagement. The Meraki dashboard is the ideal platform not just to simplify IT, but to simplify IT programmability.
Automation
The Meraki Dashboard API allows developers to handle tedious tasks quickly and simply. The Dashboard API enables access to the Meraki dashboard configuration via a modern programmable RESTful API using HTTPS and JSON.
Using this API, a large retailer recently provisioned 1,800 store networks in 9 minutes. The same customer built their own portal for field technicians to add and remove appliances without requiring access to the Meraki Dashboard. The added security and simplification has made these field technicians’ jobs more straightforward.
After deployment, IT departments are automating their network maintenance and incident response. Joel King at Worldwide Technology won an award for their app, which was built using the Meraki API to locate devices anywhere on the network. Omar Ontiveros in Cisco’s IT department uses the API to automatically on-board and off-board teleworker VPN appliances.
Analytics
Meraki Connected Mobile Experience (CMX) is a feature that displays real-time location statistics to help teams understand user behavior, improve customer engagement, and increase loyalty across sites. CMX comes included with any Meraki MR access point license. With CMX, the Meraki Dashboard can help administrators analyze traffic trends, dwell time, and new vs. repeat visitor loyalty.
Cisco Meraki HQ in San Francisco
Developers can use the CMX Location API to integrate latitude, longitude and x, y location data from their Cisco Meraki networks with their own custom-built applications. Our developer ecosystem around the CMX API has grown recently to include dozens of partner companies providing all types of value-adding features including enhanced analytics, location based apps, and notifications.
Engagement
Cisco Meraki access points and security appliances provide an external captive portal API or EXCAP API. With the API, developers can deploy their own user-facing splash pages to collect analytics, social networking data, and marketing information.
The EXCAP API can be used in tandem with Meraki’s CMX API to design a system where shoppers’ identities are tied to their devices upon their first visit, facilitating real-time shopper engagement without a captive portal on subsequent visits. Our development partners have taken this to another level, adding Social Network integration and proximity-based marketing campaigns.
Meraki Developer Strategy
At Meraki, we believe that by simplifying powerful technology we can help passionate people focus on their own mission. Our Developer strategy is just as simple: make our products easy to automate and easy to integrate.
Please join our developer program to get free licensing, 24x7 support, access to sample code, and even hardware for your lab. Join Meraki Developers
Here’s to IT That Simply Works,
Todd Nightingale
SVP, General Manager, Cisco Meraki