CenturyLink Announces Cisco Meraki Cloud & Managed DNA Certifications

CenturyLink Inc. has announced that it’s the first Cisco alliance partner to get certifications for all cloud and managed DNA services based on Cisco Meraki. That means select CenturyLink services have been tested and validated as providing the highest levels of performance based on certification criteria.

The service provider has seven Cisco designations. That includes metro Ethernet, managed security (firewall), cloud managed SD-WAN, cloud managed security, cloud managed access, Cisco Flex SP and Unified Communications as a Service based on Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution.

CenturyLink is a Cisco Gold Partner and a Cloud and Managed Services Master Partner worldwide. The company offers two solutions based on Cisco Meraki. They include CenturyLink Managed Enterprise with Cisco Meraki and CenturyLink Business Wi-Fi. The first of the two enables enterprise customers to be more efficient in deploying and monitoring Wi-Fi networks, wireless, phone, video surveillance and security services. They can do that using a single dashboard.

“These new certifications demonstrate CenturyLink’s commitment and expertise around Cisco designs and architectures,” said Thuy Ha, vice president, of voice and real-time communications at CenturyLink. “We will continue to leverage our deep expertise in networking, communications and managed services to deliver Meraki solutions that meet the unique needs of our customers.”

And in late May Cisco Meraki introduced new tools that address personal privacy concerns. Cisco announced this around the same time that the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation went into effect, which was May 25.

“To honor customers’ requests to export their information, Meraki has built functionality to enable accessibility and export of databoard data,” Cisco Meraki said. “Customers can delete dashboard data, either for themselves, or in response to requests from users of their networks. In Meraki’s dashboard, data can be identified, hidden, and removed upon a verified request to restrict processing.”

Cisco Meraki also offers consent tools, data hosting visibility, and the ability to track and verify the status of GDPR requests.