NFD36: Meter Lowers Networking Costs
Meter is an ambitious interesting startup in the networking hardware and managed services space. NAAS but site/campus-focussed. Their Network Field Day 36 (#NFD36) presentations highlighted where they excel, and how their pricing approach radically differs from traditional models, producing solid customer savings.
Meter’s Differences
Key factors making Meter different:
Meter’s current customer base is largely schools, shipping carriers, financials, and fast-growing firms requiring high-performance dependable networking. I’ll note they did NOT mention routers per se. Their security appliances apparently provide that role and the ISP connection.
The sales pitch: Why switch to Meter? Product, process, price. They sell great networking, not hardware or software.
The Equipment and Services
Meter has four product lines: ISP, wired, WiFi, and Cellular (5G). Meter also deploys managed PDU’s with out of band connectivity, to allow for remote reboot of equipment when necessary. The equipment uses one common firmware image to boot.
The switches currently operate at 25 Gbps speed. The next generation will be 100 Gbps. The switches do NOT stack. Meter feels the uplink speeds suffice and stacking is not necessary.
The hardware was designed by Meter, and its software is heavily integrated with their management platform via APIs, including telemetry. The next generation of hardware will allow for redundant power supplies. Meter uses single fans to be as quiet and cool as possible. Devices determine the need to power the fan on “rather than assuming they are located next to a volcano”.
Meter has digital twin capabilities, so they can set up an entire network without deploying hardware: SSID’s, firewalls, etc. Once hardware is connected, Meter downloads and validates the full software image, and then the configuration.
Should equipment fail, it is swapped out, and the installation process configures it.
A new customer typically provides floor plans to Meter, and then consultative design takes place. During installation, Meter uses a tight loop for installation and validation, to make sure to get things right on Day 1 and avoid later issues. They take pride in their management software.
Meter noted that there is a scarcity of new networking staff. They claim there used to be 1 staffer per 75 employees, now the ratio is 1 per 250-300. Yet the number of apps and devices is growing rapidly. Hence NAAS. And Meter trains in-house staff to use the Meter software to troubleshoot, etc.
Meter is currently available in North America, Canada, and Europe (just UK for now), with broader availability planned for 2025.
Meter does connect to other vendor equipment when needed, e.g. existing SD-WAN gear.
Everything is managed off the Meter Connect dashboard. It has an API for sharing data with the local NOC. You can also ask it questions via natural language. It understands the whole stack.
Links
Meter’s home page:
Online demo:
Tech Field Day links:
NFD36 blogs already posted about Meter:
Miscellany
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Networking Presales Leader and Architect at AHEAD
1 天前I was definitely intrigued. There are some big names in the data center/app hosting NaaS space, but the campus realm has more niche players. By acting as a circuit broker for WAN connectivity too, Meter definitely provides an easy button for new branch turnups. (Don’t be surprised when I use that phrase in my own post on them!)