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Cisco has successfully completed its move out of its failed foray into consumer goods with the sale of its Linksys unit to Belkin. Belkin, maker of a multitude of consumer products including cables, power strips, web cams, networking products, etc. will gain an approximately 30% share of the retail home and small business networking market with this acquisition. This pits them directly against established competitors such as NetGear, D-Link, and TrendNet.
Cisco can add itself to the ever-growing list of companies that have had to discover the hard way that trying to be all things to all markets is nearly always a failed business model. Belkin reportedly intends to maintain the well-established Linksys brand; and will continue to offer product and warranty support for current and future Linksys products. The agreement will also give Belkin access to Cisco’s specialized software solutions across all of Belkin’s product lines. Financial and other terms have not yet been disclosed, and the deal is subject to the usual regulatory approvals. Cisco’s related blog story can be viewed here; and Belkin’s press release is available here.