Cisco Says Bye-Bye To Linksys Brand For Biz

Cisco Systems will no longer bring out small business products under the Linksys brand name, reserving the moniker exclusively for consumer offerings.

The company last week at its Cisco Channel Exchange press and analyst conference in Lisbon, Portugal, said all new small business products will come out under either the Cisco Small Business or newly launched Cisco Small Business Pro brands.

Cisco currently offers some small business products under the Linksys By Cisco brand. Those products over time will be rebranded under one of the two Cisco small business lines, said Andrew Sage, vice president of worldwide small business sales at Cisco.

"Instead of changing the brand on existing Linksys products, as a new model comes out we'll put it under the new brand," Sage said.

Cisco at the conference disclosed that it has made a $100 million investment as part of a small business initiative to target customers with fewer than 100 users. The investment includes the launch of the new Cisco Small Business Pro products set to debut within the next few months.

The vendor has already taken several steps to consolidate the small business offerings previously spread between Cisco and its Linksys division.

In August, Cisco integrated the Linksys Small Business Channel Partner Program into its own partner program. It also created a Cisco Small Business Council responsible for coordinating sales, manufacturing and engineering for Cisco's pursuit of the sub-100 employee market. The council is led by Sue Bostrom, chief marketing officer and executive vice president; Keith Goodwin, senior vice president of worldwide channels; and Ian Pennell, senior vice president of Cisco's Small Business Technology Group (SBTG).

The SBTG includes the former Linksys product development team.

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