Charity Digital Exchange: A product guide to Cisco

If your charity uses an in-person office and is responsible for furnishing and managing its own office, this will include ensuring there is secure internet connection. To do so, physical network hardware such as routers, security appliances, and switches will be needed. Depending on the organisation’s needs, these may also be combined with non-physical systems such as VPNs and virtual firewalls.

Your organisation may also require outward-facing IT capabilities – for example, providing internet-connected computers for your beneficiaries to use or providing internet connection in sites where there is little or no broadband coverage.

In this product guide, we explore the Cisco products on the Charity Digital Exchange that can give your offices and further operations a secure internet connection at a discounted price.

Skip to: Routers

Skip to: Security appliances

Skip to: Virtual private networks

Skip to: Firewalls

Skip to: Switches

Skip to: Transceivers

Skip to: Cellular gateways

Skip to: Systems management dashboards

Skip to: Eligibility

A guide to Cisco products on the Charity Digital Exchange catalogue

Cisco products are used to set up internet connections in a physical office. They are mostly hardware, meaning that they are physical items such as routers, firewalls, and switches. The catalogue also offers a selection of licences that can enhance these services. Below we explore these offers further.

Top tip: All products that include “5-Year Licence” in the title provide five years of access to the Meraki cloud platform, feature updates, and support. Cloud-first networks have the advantage of enhanced reliability, security, automation, remote management, global visibility, and dynamic scalability.

Routers

A router is a device that “routes” internet traffic between connected devices, such as your computer, and the internet. This includes both incoming and outgoing internet traffic which it directs as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The Charity Digital Exchange offers wireless Cisco routers, meaning computers and other devices don’t need to be plugged into the router in order to use the internet.

Some routers are designed for indoor, high-density environments. High-density means more than 30 users are expected to connect with the router at once during its use. These are:

• Cisco Meraki MR36 Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Access Point with 5-Year Licence
• Cisco Meraki MR36H Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Access Point with 5-Year Licence
•  Cisco Meraki MR46 Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Access Point with 5-Year Licence

A router designed for outdoor, high-density environments is:

• Cisco Meraki MR76 Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Access Point with 5-Year Licence

A router designed for outdoor, low-density environments is:

• Cisco Meraki MR70 a/b/g/n/ac Wireless Access Point with 5-Year Licence

Useful products to combine with routers

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• The Cisco Meraki 802.3at PoE Injector can be used to provide power to Cisco Meraki devices such as indoor wireless routers

Security appliances

The Cisco security appliances available on the Charity Digital Exchange all work as routers to provide internet access, as well as offering additional inbuilt security features such as firewalls and VPNs.

The security appliances recommended for small branches with up to 50 users are:

• Cisco Meraki MX67W Wireless Security Appliance with 5-Year Licence
• Cisco Meraki MX67C LTE Security Appliance with 5-Year Licence

For small branches with up to 200 users:

• Cisco Meraki MX75 Security Appliance with 5-Year Licence

For small to medium branches with up to 250 users:

• Cisco Meraki MX85 Security Appliance with 5-Year Licence

For large branches with up to 500 users:

• Cisco Meraki MX100 Security Appliance with 3-Year License

For more information, check out the Cisco Meraki MX Series Datasheet.

Virtual private networks 

A virtual private network (VPN) ensures sensitive data is transmitted without external parties gaining unauthorised access. VPNs use an encrypted connection, which scrambles the data into a secret code that can’t be read by anyone other than the intended recipient.

 The Cisco VPNs accessible through the Charity Digital Exchange are:

• Cisco AnyConnect Apex SSL VPN 5-Year Subscription Licenses for 25 Users
• Cisco AnyConnect Apex SSL VPN 5-Year Subscription Licences for 100 Users

These products are licence upgrades which you can add to applicable security appliances. Both products add the ability to extend the resources of your security appliance to virtually any remote user with access to the internet and a web browser. They will also add the ability to customise access to different individuals in your organisation according to their roles.

Firewalls

Firewalls can allow or block certain incoming and outgoing traffic for your network based on defined security rules. They work as a barrier between secured and controlled internal networks and untrusted outside networks.

If your organisation uses a Cisco Firepower 1010 next-generation firewall, you can use this Smart Licence upgrade and bundle, available on the Charity Digital Exchange:

• Cisco Firepower 1010 Threat Defense Smart License Bundle, 1-Year Subscription

Switches

Switches are used to connect up a network of devices such as computers, routers, printers, and servers, within the same building. When connected, devices can share information with each other. The Cisco switches offered by the Charity Digital Exchange are:

• Cisco Meraki MS225 Series 48-Port PoE Gigabit Ethernet Switch with 5-Year Licence (Refurbished)
• Cisco Meraki MS120 Series 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch with 5-Year Licence
• Cisco Meraki MS120 Series 8-Port Full PoE Gigabit Ethernet Switch with 5-Year Licence

Some network switches can be connected together to quickly increase the capacity of a network and behave as one single device. To stack certain families of switches, you can use this stacking cable:

• Cisco Meraki QSFP 1-Meter Stacking Cable

Transceivers 

Transceivers both “transmit” and “receive” optical and electrical signals. Short-form pluggable (SFP) transceivers are plugged into a network switch or a server to extend the distance of the network. The Cisco transceivers offered on the Charity Digital Exchange are:

• Cisco Meraki 1000BASE-SX Multimode SFP Transceiver
• Cisco Meraki 1000BASE-TX  Copper SFP Transceiver
• Cisco Meraki 10GBASE-LR Single-Mode SFP Transceiver
• Cisco Meraki 10GBASE-SR Multimode SFP Transceiver

Cellular gateways

Cellular gateways create a high-speed, reliable cellular network connection, enabling portable transceivers, such as those found in mobile phones, to communicate with each other. These can be combined with Cisco Meraki MX security appliances to create a secure network. The Charity Digital Exchange offers:

• Cisco Meraki MG41 Cellular Gateway with 5-Year Licence

More information can be found in the Cisco Meraki Family Datasheet for MG Cellular Gateways.

Systems management dashboards

Systems management dashboards allow visibility and control over the network security of multiple devices (such as computers and mobile devices) from a centralised point. The Charity Digital Exchange includes a Cisco licence for a systems management dashboard:

• Cisco Meraki 5-Year Systems Manager Enterprise Device Licence

Eligibility for Cisco products on the Charity Digital Exchange

To be eligible for donated Cisco products, an organization must:

• Have a primary mission that focuses on serving economically disadvantaged people, environmental conservation, or prevention of pollution
• Have an annual operating budget (total annual expenses) of less than $20million (approx. £15,690,400)
• Not have purchased Cisco or Meraki products within the last six months or intend to do so in the next six months. This applies to purchases made directly from Cisco or through resellers or retail channels. This does not apply to products obtained via the donation programme
• Not be an affiliate of a parent organization with more than 20 national or international affiliates

An organization can place as many donation requests as it wishes, as long as the total administrative fees do not exceed $8,000 (approx. £6,275) per U.S. fiscal year (1 July one year to 30 June the following year).

On the Charity Digital Exchange, charities can spend up to $8,000 (approx. £6,275.72) in administrative fees on Cisco products per U.S. fiscal year (1 July one year to 30 June the following year).

Visit our catalogue to browse our Cisco range and check out Cisco’s Rules, Eligibility, and Restrictions guidance for further information.