Recently in Meraki Category

The Washington Post wrote a nice article highlighting Anaptyx, a small company that deploys Meraki networks. Initially the article focuses on how little power Meraki nodes use:

"We cover four or five apartments with a single wireless router that uses less electricity than any router you can buy," says Ken, 24. In a 100-unit apartment complex in Boston, the networks save about $2,500 a year in electricity costs, he says, and conserve about 21 tons of carbon, the amount an average American produces in a year.

The article also discusses the enormous success of Harvard Square's network, which spans 24-acres and has connected over 41,000 users since June 2008. Good work guys!
I was happy to see this article show up on CNET today. It talks about some new projects OneEconomy is deploying using Meraki's mesh technology:

"With other wireless gear you needed a technician to set up and maintain the network," he said. "But Meraki access points just plug in and work. And the online dashboard allows Web-based monitoring that's simple to use," [says David McConnell, senior vice president of access service at OneEconomy].

The reduced equipment and maintenance costs mean that OneEconomy can serve more low-income families. OneEconomy can also pass on the savings to the individuals it serves, reducing the cost of its broadband service by about 75 percent. This means that instead of charging $20 or $30 for Internet service, the group is able to charge low-income residents only $5 or $7 per month for service.

I also liked this part at the bottom:

While Meraki's mission is not necessarily to bring broadband to low-income people, the inexpensive and easy to use nature of its products make it an ideal partner for organizations, such as OneEconomy, that are trying to bridge the digital divide. And as the new presidential administration takes office and plans for universal broadband access take shape, Meraki could find itself being used in even more communities to provide low-cost broadband access.
Woop woop! We're ready when you are, Mr. President.
Famed video journalist and Internet celebrity Robert Scoble came to Meraki last week to discuss Free the Net, the Wall Plug ("Wall-E"), and of course our upcoming Solar product. Check out his two-part interview with Sanjit here:



Mandatory Staff Meeting

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During my first week at Meraki I tweeted about meeting Daisuke, an incredibly talented member of the design team. Unfortunately Daisuke had to leave the company recently because his work visa couldn't be extended. When asked to suggest a theme for his farewell party he replied, "Anything with beer", and thus was born Meraki's mandatory beirut tournament.

In light of the fact that not everyone is familiar with the sport, Daisuke spent the morning creating a beginners guide styled after Meraki's user manuals:

Manual Cover
Manual Inside
Manual Back
We're going to miss this guy. Here's a time-lapse video of the tournament taking place:


Meraki is in the news again, this time for its partnerships with local cafes to expand Free the Net coverage throughout the city:

For the past several months, Meraki has offered to send free wireless mesh routers to anyone who's within range of the mesh and willing to slap one of the devices in their window or on their roof.

Meraki pays for the connection to the Internet, and you pay for the paltry 3 watts of power that the router consumes. A small price to pay to help turn SF into a place where you can stroll around and freely access the Internet wherever you are, right?

Meraki's latest bid to expand the size of their mesh is a promotion aimed at the city's coffee houses, many of which now pay for Internet access to keep their latte drinkers online and, presumably, poised to order refills.

In exchange for putting a Meraki router into their premises, SF cafes get to dump their Internet access bill, quit worrying about maintaining their networks, and benefit from some free advertising in the little gray bar that appears atop Web pages served through the Meraki network.

My tests indicate nodes only take 2 watts, but otherwise the reporter has his facts straight. Ask your favorite caffeine-monger to complete this form to add Meraki to the menu. Every node added will strengthen the mesh and bring closer the goal of ubiquitous free WiFi for all San Franciscans.

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