Meraki Adds Client Location Services to Cloud-Controlled Enterprise Wireless LAN Solution

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Meraki, the cloud-based networking company, today announced the addition of Client Location Services to its cloud-based wireless LAN solution.

Knowing the physical location of mobile assets saves valuable time and money in many environments.  In healthcare organizations, costly medical equipment must be tracked down to serve patients and for maintenance.  In retail environments, handheld scanners can easily be misplaced, and in offices and classrooms, laptops and iPhones go missing all too frequently.  In addition, detailed knowledge of client location can be invaluable to helpdesk personnel for troubleshooting client issues.

Meraki's Client Location Services allows administrators to locate wireless clients quickly and easily, using existing Meraki wireless LAN infrastructure. With Client Location Services, administrators can view the location of wireless clients on a custom floor plan or map.  Additionally, Client Location Services includes Google Maps integration for tracking clients in campus or outdoor deployments – administrators can view clients on map, satellite, or hybrid views via a simple toggle.  Locations are viewed via Meraki's secure browser-based

Client Location Services integrates seamlessly with Meraki's Client Fingerprinting technology, which dashboard, making Client Location Services ideal for distributed, multi-site, and remotely managed environments enables administrators to identify clients by device name, operating system, etc.  An administrator can, for example, locate an individual client by searching for "John's iPhone", or search for "Windows 7" to see the locations of all laptops running Microsoft Windows 7.

"Client Location Services is a powerful new addition to Meraki's wireless LAN," says Slade James, Network Services Supervisor at Coronado Unified School District in California.  "The fact that we woke up one morning and found that our network was upgraded with this new capability really hammered home the magic of cloud-based networking.  We continue to find new uses for this capability, like tracking down clients that do not meet our standards for acceptable use or system configuration."

Key Client Location Services benefits:

• Uses existing wireless LAN infrastructure – no new hardware or software to purchase or deploy, and no per-device licensing
• Built-in Google Maps and custom floor plan support
• No configuration, setup, or training required
• Scales to tens of thousands of clients per network

Client Location Services operates by intelligently triangulating client location using the signal strength of multiple access points that "see" the client.  Location can be determined with as few as three access points, making Client Location Services equally suited to small branches and large campuses.  Advanced triangulation techniques, employ weighted averages and AP selection algorithms to ensure accuracy.

Client Location Services provides location tracking for WiFi clients using an existing Meraki  wireless LAN, with no added cost and complexity.  As a certified technology partner of Real Time Location Services (RTLS) solution providers, Meraki wireless LANs also integrate with third party RFID-based systems, enabling tracking of non-WiFi assets such as golf carts, hospital beds, and heavy machinery.

Client Location Services is available immediately to all Meraki Enterprise Cloud Controller customers.  

About Meraki

Meraki offers enterprise-class wireless networks at a fraction of the cost and complexity of traditional networking vendors.  Using Meraki's unique cloud-based architecture, an administrator can configure thousands of Meraki access points over the web through a single interface.  The company's customers range from enterprises to world-class educational institutions.  Meraki wireless networks serve millions of users on over 15,000 networks in more than 140 countries.  Meraki is located in San Francisco, California, and is funded in part by Sequoia Capital and Google.  For more information, go to www.meraki.com.

SOURCE Meraki