Case Studies

Cisco Systems, Inc. | 500 Terry A. Francois Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94158 | (415) 432-1000 Case Study | Make-A-Wish Each individual MX securely connects to other branch MXs in the Make-A-Wish network, and then back to a master MX400 at headquarters via Meraki Auto VPN. Meraki's unique auto provisioning site-to-site VPN connects chapters securely, without tedious manual VPN configuration. For this reason, Auto VPN is one of the Make-A-Wish IT team's favorite Meraki features, as it makes creating these site-to-site tunnels extremely simple, done in seconds with just a few clicks. With these connections, Make-A-Wish is able to share internal resources securely within their organization. These security appliances also include Meraki's Layer 7 firewall, intrusion prevention, failover and HA, and content filtering, making them extremely powerful and feature-packed devices. Connected to every MX is an intelligent MS Switch. In addition to the remote troubleshooting, port-level visibility, and ease of use these backbone switches provide, the topology feature built into MS Switches also oer the Make-A-Wish team with a detailed network map at any time. Hooked up to the switches are 802.11ac MR Access Points. "Meraki APs have fixed 99% of the wireless errors we were having before." Taking advantage of the flexibility of Meraki, Je and the team have set up four SSIDs on the wireless network that are available in every location. The most secure SSID is for employees using foundation-owned devices and requires two-factor authentication. Encrypted on both ends, Je and the team can be sure no sensitive data related to wish beneficiaries or donors leaves their network. A second SSID is not broadcast but is provided for visiting guests and volunteers, and grants selective access to local printers and remote desktops. A third SSID is publicly broadcast and guests can check-in using Facebook login and a shared password. "We're now able to get greater social media visibility, as well as provide decent WiFi to our visitors," explained Je. "Custom splash pages are coming soon!" The last custom SSID connects employee-owned devices that are enrolled in Make-A-Wish's Systems Manager network. Systems Manager is the Meraki solution for mobility management, and allows for a wide range of control and visibility over mobile devices including tracking assets, pushing security settings, and installing software. When employees install the Systems Manager client on their devices, Systems Manager automatically pushes the necessary WiFi credentials for the appropriate Make-A-Wish SSID to the devices. "We'll soon also be pushing apps via Systems Manager, such as Oce 365 and Skype for business," said Je. He and his team are able to track and control all devices connecting to the Make-A-Wish network, providing several layers of security and visibility that did not exist before making the transition to Meraki. "Meraki APs have fixed 99% of the wireless errors we were having before."

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