DAR Regional Office

The buildings designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) Architects, the eighth largest architecture firm in the United States, make a strong first impression. To create these unique environments, ZGF's teams of architects and project managers rely on wireless networking to access design software and for web-based collaboration.

ZGF used a legacy wireless solution for many years. According to systems administrator Ron Pike, the small IT team found it unreliable and difficult to manage remotely. When ZGF prepared to move its headquarters to a new award-winning office in Portland, the firm wanted to deploy a superior wireless network solution for the new space. Ideally, this solution would also be deployed in the branch offices in L.A., Seattle, New York, and Washington D.C., and everything would be centrally managed.

Pike recommended Meraki as the best choice for a cost-effective, centrally-managed wireless solution for all the offices.

speeds, good management tools, and industry standard security. We got all of these features.

"I'd have to say that if the access points looked clunky, it would have made us think," Pike acknowledged. "But they look very clean."

The best thing about deploying Meraki, Pike said, is the network's reliability. "I haven't noticed any outages at all," he said. "It's a very robust service."