Linksys cracks retail, service provider markets

Linksys has cracked mass market retail, signing an agreement via distributor Ingram Micro to stock its products in 17 Dick Smith Powerhouse stores and all 164 locations nationally by the end of 2005.

Meanwhile, consumer VoIP provider engin has agreed to resell Linksys' Wireless-G router and Wired Broadband router, both with two phone ports. The products would be available from engin and its partners for $249 and $219 respectively.

Cisco-owned Linksys worked with engin following Cisco's April acquisition of Sipura Technology. Previously, engin's customers were using Sipura's SPA-2000 products. SPA-2000 connects standard telephones and fax machines to IP-based networks.

Linksys is a late entrant to the Australian SOHO networking market but commands 61 percent of the US retail networking product sector, according to Victor Tsao, co-founder and general manager at Linksys.

It had also secured 96 percent of the consumer VoIP market in the US, Tsao claimed.

He said the company wanted to replicate that success here in Australia through the engin deal.

A new Linksys partner program would also be launched within the next six to eight weeks, said regional manager Graeme Reardon. Dick Smith staff were being trained in Linksys products, he said.

The company was also talking to other retailers and service providers to further expand its channel, he said.

Linksys' Wireless-G Broadband router (WRT54G) has SecureEasySetup (SES), technology that lets consumers activate Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to secure their networks by pushing one button, Linksys said.

The WRT54G is an access point for connecting 802.11g or 802.11b devices to a network. It has a four-port full duplex 10/100 switch to connect wired Ethernet devices while the router function lets the whole network share a cable or DSL connection and other devices, Linksys said.