Cisco's Linksys One brings SMB-focused gear tied to services

Linksys One gear includes Linksys One Service Router, Wireless Services Router, Gigabit Smart Switch and the Cisco Service Node for Linksys One XA Series

After more than a year-and-a-half delay, Cisco this week launched its Linksys One offering, aimed at providing small businesses with packaged routing, switching, voice, wireless and security gear tied to managed services.

The products launched under the Linksys One brand include its Linksys One Service Router, Wireless Services Router, Gigabit Smart Switch and the Cisco Service Node for Linksys One XA Series.

The Linksys One Services Routers (SVR200 and 3500) are the core customer premise gear. The routers combine broadband or T-1 connectivity with Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. Software provides firewall, VPN, remote network management/monitoring, device detection for IP phones and other gear, and service provisioning features. Session Initiation Protocol-based VoIP call control also runs on the routers.

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After more than a year-and-a-half delay, Cisco this week launched its Linksys One offering, aimed at providing small businesses with packaged routing, switching, voice, wireless and security gear tied to managed services.

The products launched under the Linksys One brand include its Linksys One Service Router, Wireless Services Router, Gigabit Smart Switch and the Cisco Service Node for Linksys One XA Series.

The Linksys One Services Routers (SVR200 and 3500) are the core customer premise gear. The routers combine broadband or T-1 connectivity with Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. Software provides firewall, VPN, remote network management/monitoring, device detection for IP phones and other gear, and service provisioning features. Session Initiation Protocol-based VoIP call control also runs on the routers.

For small offices of around 10 people, the SVR200 includes ADSL and Ethernet WAN links and built-in 802.11g wireless LAN connectivity. The SVR3500, for larger offices with as many as 100 employees, has dual T-1 connections and a 24-port PoE switch.

Linksys says it has also added features to the software on the Services Router equipment, with capabilities that let customers transfer more calls from IP phones to a cell phone, as well as improved automatic customer provisioning capabilities.

The Services Router ties back to a Service Node for Linksys, which is a product bundle that starts with a Cisco a 7301 router for WAN connectivity, VoIP call control and security services. A server running Linksys One customer provisioning software and hosted applications is part of the package, as well as a Catalyst 4948 Gigabit Ethernet switch. This product trio would sit in a service provider's network and deliver hosted VoIP, security and other services tied to the Services Router.

North American hosted service providers offering Linksys One products include CommPartners, Hancock Telecom, NeoNova Network Services, Sasktel and Solution One. The SVR200 and SVR 3500 cost $930 and $1,500 respectively. Hosted services tied to the gear is priced differently by carriers.

The Linksys One idea, originally hatched in the fall of 2005, was to tie specially designed Linksys network, VoIP and security gear to services from carriers. This would allow Cisco to reach the market for sub-50-employee businesses with equipment that could be provisioned and managed remotely by carrier providers.

Although touted as one of Cisco's Advanced Technologies -- a designation tied to an expected, eventual run rate of $1 billion annually -- Linksys One stumbled in its first year of trials with large-scale carriers such as MCI. The company has since revamped its lineup of gear and re-targeted the offering at smaller hosted service providers offering bundled Internet, VoIP and other services over broadband links.

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