Cisco Might Prematurely Trash its Linksys Brand

Network giant Cisco could dissolve its Linksys home networking-oriented brand sooner than anyone would expect. The networking specialist has been selling its consumer and small-business products under both brands, a strategy that is proven to confuse the consumer.

According to Cisco's chairman and CEO John Chambers, the Linksys brand will slowly be absorbed by Cisco in an indefinite timeframe. However, Linksys' responded and claimed that there was no such strategy planned for the short term.

However, Cisco's vice president of SMB Solutions Marketing Rick Moran, claims that the networking specialist allowed its channel partners to sell both Linksys and Cisco-branded routers, but they are now re-considering the alternatives, given the fact that they cannot carry both brands.

For instance, the channel vendors that would sell Cisco gear won't sell Linksys, as they aimed at selling system integration services, not just singular units.

"It will be shorter than you think," Moran said. "The evolution is likely to happen first outside the U.S., where Linksys products are sold, but Cisco hasn't spent any money building up that brand", he added.

Moran also said that the Linksys products will ultimately become a product category, just like the Catalyst series of network switches, or like the WebEx conferencing services acquired by the company last year.

"We need a definition to say there's a difference in the support model that goes behind them," Moran said. Cisco products are known for extensive support, while Linksys gear is designed for ease of use out of the box.

Cisco's executive also claims that the company felt the shock on the recessive US market, but it managed to compensate for its losses with achievements in other regions. According to his researchers, small businesses played a key role in market recovery.

"The first people to slow down spending are SMBs, but the first people to start back, even before the recovery is noticeable, are small businesses," he concluded.