Child Makes ‘Networking History’ (Translation: We’re Acquiring Meraki)

Did you hear the one about the pre-teen who installed a switch and some wireless devices in under ten minutes? And did I mention he is a regular kid? Okay, maybe an online gamer, but definitely not a member of his school’s computer club.

Maybe I made that up. But then again … I am talking about the power of Meraki. This cloud networking leader is all about making it simple to manage wireless, switching, and security solutions from the cloud. And, in case you missed it, Cisco announced its intent to acquire them for $1.2 billion on November 19.

For our partners—and our customers—this is good news.

Meraki provides cloud-based switching, security, wireless, mobile device management, application visibility and control, and other services. It’s all delivered through a sophisticated management framework that provides amazing redundancy and resiliency.

Their technology will accelerate Cisco’s shift toward recurring, software-based business models, which are easier and less expensive to manage. For our mid-market customers, this will make choosing Cisco easy.

Meraki is a leader in Network-as-a-Service (NAAS) and has a strong foothold in the mid-market. They also rely on a two-tier selling model similar to ours. In fact, they currently sell with—and through—some existing Cisco partners.

As we begin integrating our two companies (including all their incredible talent), we expect this acquisition to improve our partners ability to penetrate mid-market, cloud, and BYOD spaces.

Channels GTM and our Acquisition Integrations teams are already working with Meraki’s functional leaders to accelerate ramp up to revenue. Our goal is to form a targeted and phased partner enablement plan.

So get ready! Meraki is going to be a strong addition to our mid-market portfolio. And I also believe it’s going to provide you, our partners, with a huge competitive advantage. Say tuned for more details …