Q&A: New Linksys Chief Passionate About Home Integration Market

Michael Pocock joined Cisco Systems' Linksys division at the start of May as senior vice president and general manager, replacing Linksys co-founders Victor and Janie Tsao who left to pursue other opportunities in Cisco. He spoke with Infrastructure Editor Jennifer Hagendorf Follett about Linksys' standing in the home market and the expanding opportunities he sees in working with home integrators. Edited excerpts of the conversation follow:

CRN: What opportunities do you see for digital integrators in the home market? Do you see Linksys putting together the pieces for that market?

Pocock: Interesting that you bring that up. I'll give you a personal experience that I think is not the exception but the rule. A couple of years ago I had just built a new home, and while I was going through that I was putting a home theater in my house. The company that I used was actually a local VAR that did home security, home theater, home networking, was getting into photography, involved with the emergence of digital imaging being downloaded into the home, Voice over IP and the early products that were coming out there. Whereas a lot of retailers want to reach that market as well, they're going to have to, in my opinion, partner with local VARs to be able to deliver the total solution.

I think we're going to have to facilitate an alliance or facilitate retailers hooking up with local VARs to be able to deliver the total solution. I think retailers are great in terms of providing product selection and some of the services, but to install an integrated solution for the home requires, I think, a little more expertise.

CRN: As you look at Linksys today, what do you see as its biggest challenge?

Pocock: It's remarkable with Victor and Janie that from a startup to where they are today, that they were able to handle all of the rapid growth. But as we look forward and look at scaling this business over the next couple of years, we should be able to dramatically grow our business.

We really have to make sure that the investments we make in infrastructure, products and go-to-market strategy is in position before we start experience rapid growth. We've been successful up to this point, but we need to change some of the fundamentals to really keep up with the growth going forward.

CRN: What do you think will be the most immediate differences or changes that Linksys partners will see?

Pocock: I think they're going to see that we truly value the relationships of going through the distribution channel as well as through VARs and through retailers. We're no longer just a retail company, we're a company that has to differentiate ourselves in terms of products and services.

In order to do that I think they're going to see greater engagement from Linksys with the channels. I use the term "channel" loosely because that includes not only the VARs but there are solution providers, service providers, the distribution channel and retail.

CRN: You've mentioned distribution a few times. Do you have plans to expand the distribution strategy or make some changes there?

Pocock: Not necessarily expand it. I think we have to become more important to some of the distribution partners because they are the ones that provide all of these elements to the VARs. So rather than go wider, I think we need to go deeper within the accounts that we have and a have a broader portfolio of products and services than we do today. Part of that is lead by the leading-edge technology that we're working on that will be coming out over the next 12 to 24 months, some of which you're familiar with as part of the Linksys One [hosted VoIP offering].

CRN: There has also been talk of pushing into more consumer-type devices that are network-enabled. Is that a push that will continue?

Pocock: Yes, but it's also going to require a pretty dramatic change in terms of the look and feel of the products. In the early days people that were doing home networks were the early adopters and, although we've been very successful there, as you move forward you have to redesign the product line. As new products come out your industrial design, your user interfaces all have to be geared toward the consumer market. You can't take commercial-type product and push it into the home.

As the masses start buying the products, they're so used to cool sexy designs that are available to them in other categories, and they're going to expect more of the same. It's one thing when you have a router that's out of sight, out of mind. It's another when you start to get into some of the set-top boxes, some of the DVD-type stuff where you're integrating multiple functions into a single device. Those are more out in the open, so you have to meet the needs of the consumer. So I think you'll start seeing more and more focus on our part in terms of the design of the product and the user interface because people want it simple and easy to use.

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