John Chambers, speaking to a roundtable of European press, confirms that the Linksys name will be replaced with Cisco's, reports Uberpulse.com.
There's also a video of the roundtable at the Uberpulse site.
Also: Read Cisco Subnet's Channelguy's analysis of this news.
UPDATE: It appears that Chambers may have spoken too soon. Both Linksys and Cisco have put out statements that Linksys "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," according to a blog entry by Cisco spokesman John Earnhardt. Also read: Cisco muffles Linksys death knell.
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Cisco's going to do what?
About the only real brand names as to quality and performance I can associate with small office/home business networking are NetGear and Linksys and Cisco's going to kill the Linksys name?
Doesn't seem wise.
Kill Linksys and usher in the fork-lift upgrade for your home!
I see this as a three-part strategy for Cisco to displace Microsoft in the home market. First, they'll change all the Linksys gear to Cisco SOHO and start to ratchet up the price. Next, they'll start with a cable modem replacement that'll have some gaming capabilities. Last, John Chambers himself will appear in holographic form in everyone's homes and command them to "think Cisco" with every breath they take." The sales minions will then make door-to-door follow-up calls to conscript the family's youngest male child to work in a Cisco call center and solicit his school mates. World domination one piece of network gear at a time. Muauauahahahahahaha
And less optimized, too.
Not only is it less than ideal from a recognition standpoint to drop the Linksys name, but the customer will not get equipment specific to his/her general set of network requirements. The two branding names help differentiate the overkill large business / CISCO equipment set from the more appropriat Linksys SHO network.
I doubt that much effort will remain to optimize SHO equipment if the Linksys brand is dropped, and that the sales margins along with the overly complex nature of the equipment will erode into every SHO budget.
No surprise really...
It was bound to happen.
Based on the amount of Cisco product placement seen in various TV shows and movices (24 and Transformers Movie spring immediately to mind,) it's just a matter of time.
Otherwise, who is the product placement aimed at? How many IT Managers out there will be influenced by Cisco products being used by Hollywood? They will buy that stuff anyway.
Still, it does blow your mind . . .
How willing corporations are to blow all the good will established in a name. Not just in IT, either.