Case Study: Cisco Live achieves seamless, large-scale event connectivity and security with Cisco Meraki

Deploying a large network quickly to support Cisco's largest annual event

Cisco Live needed to deliver reliable, secure connectivity for over 28,000 attendees at its massive Las Vegas 2017 event while avoiding any network failures at a high‑pressure, high‑visibility conference. To meet that challenge the event networking team turned to Cisco Meraki, deploying 150+ Meraki devices—including MR wireless access points (MR52), MS switches (MS220, MS350, MS425), MX security appliances (MX64, MX100, MX400), and MV cameras—alongside existing Cisco gear to handle access, aggregation, security, and monitoring.

Cisco Meraki staged and centrally configured devices via the Meraki Dashboard, used Auto VPN for secure satellite kiosk connections, BLE‑enabled APs for attendee and expert location tracking, and MV cameras for store protection and a live video wall. The plug‑and‑play deployment handled 8.6 TB of traffic with no reported Meraki equipment issues, sped staging and setup through bulk firmware/configuration and LED port indicators, and eliminated the need for on‑prem controllers/NVRs—demonstrating Cisco Meraki’s simplicity, scalability, and reliability in an enterprise event environment.

Cisco Live

JW McIntire

Program Manager