If our provider manages the network, what happens to the gear when we leave?

This question gets asked at the end of a contract, which is the worst possible time to ask it. The answer depends on two things that are easy to check at the start and awkward to discover later.

Who owns the hardware. Straightforward enough. Either you bought it, or it is the provider's and comes back, or it was bundled into the monthly fee in a way nobody has thought through. Worth having in writing either way.

Who holds the licensing, which matters more. Cloud managed equipment does not work without an active license. Cisco's own Meraki documentation is explicit about this: on their co-term and per-device licensing models, hardware that is out of licensing compliance becomes non-operational, cannot be configured, and stops passing traffic to the internet. It is not a feature downgrade. The device stops doing its job.

So if the licensing sits with your provider rather than with you, then at the end of the relationship you either hand the equipment back or keep a box that needs a license you no longer have a route to buy at that price. Both are acceptable outcomes if you knew going in. Neither is acceptable as a surprise during a transition.

The related one: whose account are the devices in? Cloud managed platforms organize equipment into an organization in the vendor's dashboard. If the devices sit in your provider's organization, moving them requires their cooperation. A reasonable provider will release them. It is still their decision rather than yours, and that is worth knowing.

What to get in writing before signing anything:

• Do we own the hardware at the end of the term, and is there a buyout figure?
• Are the licenses in our name or yours, and do they transfer?
• Will the devices be released from your dashboard organization to ours on request?
• Do we get the configuration and documentation?

How we do it. You own the hardware, the licensing is in your name, the account is yours, and the documentation is yours with a copy in your hands rather than only in our system. If you leave, you keep all of it and it keeps working, and we will do the handover properly. Our agreements are month to month with 30 days notice, so there is no term to run out and nothing to buy your way out of. There is a separate article in this topic on exactly what you get back if we part ways.