Belkin Completes The Acquisition Process of Linksys From Cisco

Belkin recently announced that they’ve finally completed the acquisition of Linksys from Cisco. Linksys’ portfolio of routers, other Wi-Fi devices and services will be taken over by Belkin. However, both the companies will not be disclosing the specific financial details. but we know that Belkin plans to use this newly acquired product lineup as a separate brand.

Linksys was acquired by Cisco during 2003 for $500 Million, but the company decided to keep the “Linksys” name. Cisco used Linksys for selling home networking devices using 2 major product lineups: E Series and EA Series. The EA series can be used to connect to Cisco’s Connect cloud which expands home networking devices as a platform to integrate with the cloud and run 3rd party apps.

Cisco’s Connect Cloud which is used by the users to manage and control home networks via a Smart Wi-Fi router through the internet will not be branded without the Cisco’s name.

Belkin decided to keep the name “Linksys” alive rather absorb the portfolio under its own name. That means the only difference is that Cisco’s branding will be removed from the newly manufactured devices and its GUI. This will be beneficial for Belkin because of the brand’s long run and the home networking business is already flooded many known manufacturers such as D-Link, Netgear, Asus, Trendnet and TP-Link.

Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin, “The Linksys portfolio will continue to exist and evolve to include even richer user experiences and network management functionality.”

Belkin assured that Linksys devices’ existing customers will still get support via support channels and its website and the warranties for existing and future devices will be honoured. Belkin also said that even though they have absorbed the divisions and its employees, some employees may lose their jobs.

Cisco will be concentrating on larger networking devices toward large architectures for enterprise business.

Via: CNET