Linksys staying put and keeping its name
July 30th, 2007, 10:56 am · 6 Comments · posted by Gadgetress
The biggest brand in consumer Wi-Fi is not going away anytime soon contrary to a report circulating on the Web, said Karen Sohl, a spokeswoman for Irvine’s Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc.
A YouTube video posted by UberPulse.com features John Chambers, Cisco’s chief executive, speaking at a European press conference. In the video (at 1 minute 42 seconds), Chambers talks about the evolution of the company’s branding and that “it will all come over time into a Cisco brand.” Cisco, which acquired Linksys in 2003, kept the Linksys name because it was better known among consumers in the U.S. though not necessarily the world.
But Sohl said the media reports took Chambers’ speech out of context. The company’s official statement:
“Linksys consumer and (small-medium business) products will continue to be marketed under the Linksys brand and co-exist in the market with Cisco branded connected home products over the near term. We will continue to examine our branding strategy going forward (as we have to date) and make changes if and when these changes add value to our customers’ decision making processes and our channel partners.”
Sohl said that Cisco still sells products to consumers and small businesses under the Cisco brand, as well as products co-branded as Linksys and Cisco.
“The Linksys division will continue to live as the Linksys division,” Sohl said.
The original bloggers have not contacted Linksys or Cisco, Sohl said. “If they can reach reach out to us, we’d love to have a conversation with them,” she said.
Linksys employs 950 people worldwide and a little over 600 people in U.S. The company plans to expand its headquarters this year when it moves into a building that is being vacated by Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of the massively popular World of Warcraft online game.
July 30th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
[...] The Orange County Register reports (and we confirmed with Cisco) that the Linksys brand is staying put, and will not be phased out in favor of consumer-branded Cisco equipment. This is important because Linksys is such a trusted name in consumer networking, as opposed to Cisco, which is only recognized by people in the business. So for the “near term,” the Linksys brand will stay. In the long term, they will “examine their branding strategy going forward.” So no promises. [FreedomBlogging] [...]
July 30th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
[...] The Orange County Register reports (and we confirmed with Cisco) that the Linksys brand is staying put, and will not be phased out in favor of consumer-branded Cisco equipment. This is important because Linksys is such a trusted name in consumer networking, as opposed to Cisco, which is only recognized by people in the business. So for the “near term,” the Linksys brand will stay. In the long term, they will “examine their branding strategy going forward.” So no promises. [FreedomBlogging] [...]
July 30th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
[...] The Orange County Register reports (and we confirmed with Cisco) that the Linksys brand is staying put, and will not be phased out in favor of consumer-branded Cisco equipment. This is important because Linksys is such a trusted name in consumer networking, as opposed to Cisco, which is only recognized by people in the business. So for the “near term,” the Linksys brand will stay. In the long term, they will “examine their branding strategy going forward.” So no promises. [FreedomBlogging] [...]
August 1st, 2007 at 5:24 am
[...] Sohl said the media reports took Chambers’ speech out of context. According to the Orange Country Register, the company’s official statement is: “Linksys consumer and (small-medium business) products [...]
August 7th, 2007 at 7:14 am
[...] It looks like the posting I made about Cisco ditching the LinkSys name may not be true. The Orange County Business News reports that this was just a rumor (a “rumor” started by Cisco’s CEO) and that LinkSys [...]