Linksys |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|
| Founded | 1988 |
|---|
| Founder(s) | Victor Tsao and Janie Tsao |
|---|
| Headquarters | Irvine, California, United States |
|---|
| Key people | President: Ned Hooper |
|---|
| Products | Network hardware for home and small businesses |
|---|
| Employees | 700+ (as of March 2007) |
|---|
| Parent | Belkin |
|---|
| Website | www.linksys.com |
|---|
A 802.11g wireless Linksys
routerLinksys is a brand of home and small office networking products and a company founded in 1988, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2003. Former Linksys products are now branded as Linksys by Cisco. [1] Products currently and previously sold under the Linksys brand name include broadband and wireless routers, consumer and small business grade Ethernet switching, VoIP equipment, wireless internet video camera, AV products, network storage systems, and other products. Linksys products were widely available in North America off-the-shelf from both consumer electronics stores (CompUSA and Best Buy), internet retailers, and big-box retail stores (WalMart). Linksys' significant competition as an independent networking firm were D-Link and NetGear, the latter for a time being a brand of Cisco competitor Nortel.
In 2007, Cisco CEO John Chambers described the long-term plan to kill the independent Linksys brand: "It will all come over time into a Cisco brand. The reason we kept Linksys' brand because it was better known in the US than even Cisco was for the consumer. As you go globally there's very little advantage in that."[citation needed] From 2008, all Linksys products sold were packaged and branded as "Linksys by Cisco"; some former Linksys products were merged into the Valet brand (albeit with a large Cisco logo and smaller Linksys name still on the product). The former standalone Linksys website currently redirects to Cisco's home networking website. Small-business inquiries into former Linksys products are directed to Cisco's products and reseller network.
As part of its push away from the consumer market, Cisco announced in January 2013 that it would sell its home networking division and Linksys to Belkin. Belkin announced the completion of its acquisition of Linksys in March 2013 and stated, "Linksys customers and retailers will continue to see new Linksys products come to market [...]".[2]
History
Linksys was founded in 1988 in a garage in Irvine, California. The founders, Janie and Victor Tsao (who received a master's degree in computer science from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1980), were immigrants from Taiwan who held second jobs as consultants specializing in pairing American technology vendors with manufacturers in Taiwan.[3] The company's first products were printer sharers that connected multiple PCs to printers. From this it expanded into Ethernet hubs, network cards, and cords. By 1994, it had grown to 55 employees with annual revenues of $6.5 million.[3]
The company received a major boost in 1995, when Microsoft released Windows 95 with built-in networking functions that expanded the market for its products. Linksys established its first U.S. retail channels with Fry's Electronics (1995) and Best Buy (1996).[4] In 1999, the company announced the first Fast Ethernet PCMCIA Card for notebook PCs. In 2000, it introduced the first 8-port router with SNMP and QoS, and in 2001 it shipped its millionth cable/DSL router.[4] By 2003, when the company was acquired by Cisco, it had 305 employees and revenues of more than $500 million.[3]
Cisco continued to invest to expand the company's product line. In April 2005, Cisco acquired VoIP maker Sipura Technology and made it part of the Linksys division.[5] For a time, VoIP products based on Sipura technology were offered under the Linksys Voice System brand. (They are now sold by Cisco as part of the Linksys Business Series.[6]) In July 2008, Cisco acquired Seattle-based Pure Networks, a vendor of home networking-management software. Pure Networks had previously provided the tools and software infrastructure used to create the Linksys Easy Link Advisor.[7]
Cisco announced in January 2013 that it would sell its home networking division and Linksys to Belkin. While no financial details were released, the acquisition will give Belkin 30% of the home router market. Belkin plans to continue support and honor warranties for existing Linksys products.[8]
Products and Services
Representative Hardware Products
Routers
- Main article: Linksys routers
- BEFSR41 Ethernet router
- BEFSX41 Ethernet router
- WRT54G was notable for having firmware based on the Linux operating system. Subsequently, a relatively large open-source community dedicated to modifying Linksys router firmware developed, with the 54G model being the commonly modded component.[citation needed] Since version 5, flash memory is reduced from 4MB to 2MB, and VxWorks was used instead of Linux. The original Linux model with 4MB is now available as WRT54GL. Linksys, and subsequently Cisco's marketing and use of Linux was alleged by the Free Software Foundation in its 2008 lawsuit Free Software Foundation v. Cisco Systems which was ultimately settled out-of-court.
- WRT54G2 Router was an easy-to-set-up router that enables the user to use their internet connection without running wires. It contains a firewall that protects the user from some unwanted hackers that may try to take access to the network.[9] This router supports the 802.11b and 802.11g wireless standards.
- Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) series products.
- WRT150N featured a 4-port 10/100 switch and claimed three times the range and nine times the speed over a standard wireless-G router.
- WRT310N featured a 4-port 10/100/1000 switch and claimed four times the range and twelve times the speed over a standard wireless-G router.
- 610N featured a 4-port 10/100/1000 switch, broadcasts simultaneous dual (2.4 and 5 GHz) wireless bands, multimedia streaming features, and a USB 2.0 storage link to accommodate an external hard drive.
Modems
LinkSys ADSL modem AM300 backside showing ethernet, USB, and phone line ports.
WAG200G has a 211 MHz AR7 MIPS32 CPU with 4 MB of flash memory and 16MB of DRam on the PCB. The WAG200G measures 5.5×5.5×1.25 inches (14×14×3.2 cm) (W×H×D) and weighs .77 pounds (.35 kg). The WAG200G all-in-one device functions as a high speed ADSL2+ Modem, a Wireless G Access Point, router and 4-port Ethernet switch. The built-in wireless Access Point function complies with the specifications of the 802.11g standard, which offers transfer speeds of up to 54 Mbit/s. It is also backwards compatible with 802.11b devices at speeds of 11 Mbit/s. The Access Point can support the connection of up to 32 wireless devices. It also offers 4 built-in 10/100 8P8C ports to connect Ethernet-enabled computers, print servers and other devices
USB Wireless
- WUSB54G series of USB wireless adapters use the Ralink RT2500 chipset.[10] They support the 802.11b and 802.11g wireless network standards, and have Open Source drivers available for Linux.[11] Drivers are also available for use on Macintosh systems. Only the Version 4 contains the Ralink chipset. Modification of the driver to work with Macintosh was discovered by Kramer2k.[12]
Powerline Network Adapter
Linksys by Cisco Powerline Adapter Kit
The firm offered a variety of HomePlug-based Ethernet-to-Power line communication products:
- PLTE200 – Powerline Network Adapter
- PLTS200 – Powerline 4-Port Network Adapter
- PLTK300 – Powerline Network Kit
- PLE300 – Powerline AV Network Adapter
- PLS300 – Powerline AV 4-Port Network Adapter
- PLK300 – Powerline AV Network Kit
Wireless Home Audio
Network Attached Storage
Main articles: NSLU2 and NAS200
The NSLU2 is a network attached storage device with 8 MB of flash memory, 32MB of SDRAM, a 100Mb Ethernet port, and two USB ports. The NSLU2 was discontinued in 2008, but is still in demand because of the numerous enhancements developed by open-source community projects. The NAS200 added SATA ports.
Network Media Hub
Linksys by Cisco Network Media Hub 400 Series
The Media Hub 300 and 400 series are network attached storage devices that allow users to share digital media across a network. Once the Media Hub is connected to the network, it searches for media content residing within the network and aggregates it into one centralized location, including all UPnP devices found. The Built-in Media Reader can directly import photos from compact Flash devices, SD cards and memory sticks without the need of a computer. Memory capacity options are 500GB or 1TB, with an extra empty bay.
The Media Hub's GUI gives a holistic view of the media located on the network regardless of where the actual file is located. Albums are consolidated, artwork, track numbers, and other metadata are downloaded, and all information can be sorted by a variety of different criteria. Included is Automated Backup Software that helps preserve the data through continuous storage backup.
VoIP
- Linksys PAP2 (and PAP2T) is an analog telephony adapter (commonly referred to as ATA), which allows for the connection of one or two “normal” telephones to a VoIP provider using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) protocol. The product is based on the SPA-2000 ATA, made by Sipura Technology, which was acquired by Cisco in 2005. The PAP2 was discontinued in 2012.
- SPA2102 is a gateway router with two FXS ports.
- SPA3102 is a gateway router with both a FXO & FXS port.
See also
- Broadcom
- Ralink
- FSF vs. Cisco
- Linksys iPhone
- Daftar/Tabel -- wireless router firmware projects
References
External links
