Reports of Linksys' death exaggerated says Cisco

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 01 August 2007 13:28

Opinion and Analysis

John Chambers' statement, posted on YouTube ,  that the Linksys brand would be phased out seemed pretty unequivocal, but the word from Cisco is that the brand will be around for a while yet. In response to questions at a media roundtable, Chambers said: "[Linksys] will come over time into a Cisco brand. The reason we kept Linksys' brand because it was better known in the US than even Cisco was for the consumer. As you go globally there's very little advantage in that."

However a posting on the official Cisco blog site says otherwise: "There have been some questions lately about whether the Linksys brand would be folded into the Cisco brand. Here is our response: 'Linksys consumer and SMB 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."

So Chambers, off the cuff, said the brand would go "over time" and the more measured, official position is that it will stay "in the near term". Seems to me the death sentence has been passed: all that remains to be revealed is the execution date.  However the statement also makes it clear that the Cisco brand will be out there in consumerland: "The Linksys brand and co-exist in the market with Cisco branded connected home products." Could this mean a more gradual phasing out with new products being branded Cisco?