Cisco to sell off Linksys division - Polidicks

[quote="Ars Technica"] Bloomberg is reporting that enterprise networking gear maker Cisco has engaged the services of Barclays to offload its Linksys division. Linksys, which makes home networking gear like SOHO routers and wireless access points, was acquired by Cisco in 2003 for $500 million, and its products have been sold with the branding "Linksys by Cisco" since. Linksys products have retained their focus on home users, while Cisco's main branding has been reserved for its enterprise equipment. According to the Bloomberg report, the move to sell Linksys comes as part Cisco's broader strategy, which will see it exit the consumer space entirely. The report makes a comparison to Cisco's Flip video camera acquisition in 2009; in spite of promising technology and good sales, the small HD video cameras were discontinued by Cisco in 2011. Speculation at the time was that Cisco had been more interested in acquiring Flip's intellectual property portfolio and integrating it into their own videoconferencing technology rather than actually selling pocket-sized video cameras to consumers. The divesting of Linksys does indeed align with the direction Cisco stated it was headed in 2011, namely the shedding of consumer businesses and focusing on five specific areas: "core routing; switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video." Cisco has a tremendous presence in data centers and telecom closets, and there's a lot of shareholder value in focusing on higher-margin enterprise hardware rather than notoriously low-margin consumer gear. Bloomberg speculates that the Linkys sale will likely return far less than the $500 million Cisco originally paid nine years ago, precisely because Linksys products carry such a low margin. Cisco is also still stinging from the PR backlash it triggered six months ago when it attempted to drive all of its Linksys users toward a managed service with Cisco Cloud Connect. That service ostensibly made it easier for users to manage all their Linksys devices from anywhere by grouping them all into a single portal. But the move had the practical effect of forcing users to log into a Cisco website in order to view or change their own device's settings. Cisco eventually relented, but the misstep cost a tremendous amount of goodwill among tech-savvy consumers. There is no word on potential buyers for Linksys, though it might be a tough sell: whomever picks it up will be taking on what Bloomberg characterizes as "a mature consumer business," meaning that Linksys arrives as-is, without much room for innovation or large revenue spikes. [/quote] [url="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/cisco-to-sell-off-linksys-division/"]Source[/url]. I don't know if I should consider this a good thing or bad thing.

On an unrelated note, Cisco switches and routers are a fucking bitch to configure.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38866151]On an unrelated note, Cisco switches and routers are a fucking bitch to configure.[/QUOTE] If you ever get the chance to get a tech who knows what he is doing blast through the menus, watch him. It truly is a sight to behold.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38866151]On an unrelated note, Cisco switches and routers are a fucking bitch to configure.[/QUOTE] Quite the contrary. The easiest, most affordable and moddable platforms too imo

[QUOTE=sHiBaN;38866523]Quite the contrary. The easiest, most affordable and moddable platforms too imo[/QUOTE] While I agree for the most part, their managed switches are quite a bit intimidating for the first timer. Or newbies who have never really delved into command line

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38866151]On an unrelated note, Cisco switches and routers are a fucking bitch to configure.[/QUOTE] Pick up a fucking CCNA book and Network Warrior then. Seriously the syntax isn't too complicated, it isn't perl

[QUOTE=sHiBaN;38866523]Quite the contrary. The easiest, most affordable and moddable platforms too imo[/QUOTE] Configuring couple of VLAN's to a CISCO switch and make them work with a CISCO router and inside the network environment was the most half assed project I have ever endured. But that might be the fact that I don't have much experience with CISCO equipment. To me it felt like doing stuff the hard way.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38867075]Configuring couple of VLAN's to a CISCO switch and make them work with a CISCO router and inside the network environment was the most half assed project I have ever endured. But that might be the fact that I don't have much experience with CISCO equipment. To me it felt like doing stuff the hard way.[/QUOTE] I know that feel. Recently did the same with some SonicWall Routers for the first time for that brand. At least those have GUIs.

Heh, I'm still using an old Linksys WRT54G router. Shit is like almost 10 years old :v: Still works like a charm though.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38867075]Configuring couple of VLAN's to a CISCO switch and make them work with a CISCO router and inside the network environment was the most half assed project I have ever endured. [B]But that might be the fact that I don't have much experience with CISCO equipment.[/B] To me it felt like doing stuff the hard way.[/QUOTE] It's probably that because via terminal it is pretty easy to define vlans. If you are using a GUI, you are doing it wrong.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38866151]On an unrelated note, Cisco switches and routers are a fucking bitch to configure.[/QUOTE] Cisco switches and routers run the fucking planet. They're just configurable in every single needed way. *Market shares etc but still

If you are using a GUI to configure a cisco switch or router, you are doing it wrong. It's much easier to use the ios command line. It's really easy to configure provided you know what you are doing.

At the first school I worked in, they had Cisco switches, the second had Allied Telesis. I can tell you the Cisco are so much nicer to work with provided you can use the command line. And the Allied Telesis used to restart themselves for no reason whatsoever.

That's disappointing, my WRT54G has got to be the best router I've ever owned. I haven't tried their newer stuff but I don't expect a large quality gap.

Linksys routers are awesome, 90% of the time they are just plug and play. It takes less then a minute to set the network name and the password.

[QUOTE=Murkrow;38868096]Cisco switches and routers run the fucking planet. They're just configurable in every single needed way. *Market shares etc but still[/QUOTE] Configurable, yes, but that doens't mean they are plug and play like. I found them awfully confusing.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38868279]Configurable, yes, but that doens't mean they are plug and play like. I found them awfully confusing.[/QUOTE] What is confusing about IOS? It's a very clean and easy environment to work in.

[QUOTE=Tucan Sam;38868332]What is confusing about IOS? It's a very clean and easy environment to work in.[/QUOTE] I think its worth noting that IOS is not intended for home/everyday users. My dad can program the usual home router (WRT54G etc.) just fine but if he was greeted with a "scary" command prompt style interface, he wouldn't know where to start. That being said, once you get past the initial shock of oh gawd where is my GUI, its very easy to pick up or atleast google what your after.

[QUOTE=Tucan Sam;38868332]What is confusing about IOS? It's a very clean and easy environment to work in.[/QUOTE] Yes it is, but the commands turned out to be tough to remember in some situations. Like in the fore mentioned VLAN, where I would've wanted to have ports 1 - 5 to be VLAN1 and ports 6 - 10 to be VLAN2. Although the whole system carries out with reasonable logic, ie >enable >config t >interface fastEthernet 0/0 >ip address 192.168.25.100 255.255.255.0 And so on. It still seemed like doing a million commands to achieve quite small tasks.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38868439] It still seemed like doing a million commands to achieve quite small tasks.[/QUOTE] Which is why i said my first comment. Its like playing Dwarf Fortress.

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38868439]Yes it is, but the commands turned out to be tough to remember in some situations. Like in the fore mentioned VLAN, where I would've wanted to have ports 1 - 5 to be VLAN1 and ports 6 - 10 to be VLAN2. Although the whole system carries out with reasonable logic, ie >enable >config t >interface fastEthernet 0/0 >ip address 192.168.25.100 255.255.255.0 And so on. It still seemed like doing a million commands to achieve quite small tasks.[/QUOTE] ... You know you can address multiple ports with that right? You can tell IOS to access ports 0/0 - 0/5 and tag them all at once right? What you said could be done in very few commands.

[QUOTE=Tucan Sam;38868509]... You know you can address multiple ports with that right? You can tell IOS to access ports 0/0 - 0/5 and tag them all at once right? What you said could be done in very few commands.[/QUOTE] No reason to badger him about it, hes still learning.

I bet it's true. I haven't gone deep into the whole CISCO world, but from a beginners point of view, it isn't really a system that greets you with a warm hug. More like greets you by smacking you in the face a hundred times.

[QUOTE=Frankiscool!;38868536]No reason to badger him about it, hes still learning.[/QUOTE] He seemed to have a good understanding in his posts enough to pass judgement than cisco is an annoyance to work with. see 2nd post in this thread

[QUOTE=Tucan Sam;38868590]He seemed to have a good understanding in his posts enough to pass judgement than cisco is an annoyance to work with. see 2nd post in this thread[/QUOTE] Truthfully, it is an annoyance to work with when all you know is GUI. Not to mention the pressure of getting something to work right now this instant with superiors or customers breathing down your neck, is always there even when its something thats familiar and is done every day.

Kind of sad. The first really good router i had was a Linksys.. Now I'm running a 3560 PoE-12 with Layer 3 functionality. Almost as good ;) Studying CCNA 2 right now (exam in a couple of days) and will finish CCNP within 1,5 years. Gotta love Cisco!

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;38868439]Yes it is, but the commands turned out to be tough to remember in some situations. Like in the fore mentioned VLAN, where I would've wanted to have ports 1 - 5 to be VLAN1 and ports 6 - 10 to be VLAN2. Although the whole system carries out with reasonable logic, ie >enable >config t >interface fastEthernet 0/0 >ip address 192.168.25.100 255.255.255.0 And so on. It still seemed like doing a million commands to achieve quite small tasks.[/QUOTE] Used them at College for a couple of years, question marks and tab completion is your friend, ended up knowing most of the shorthand stuff, ie; >en >conf t >int fa0/0 >ip add [IP address] We even got 'copy running-configuration start-up configuration' down to 'cop ru st'. We use H3C equipment at uni though and I much prefer that over Cisco, also Cisco's more recent core equipment hasn't been on par with other companies according to my Prof.

[QUOTE=shakadamus;38869234]Used them at College for a couple of years, question marks and tab completion is your friend, ended up knowing most of the shorthand stuff, ie; >en >conf t >int fa0/0 >ip add [IP address] We even got 'copy running-configuration start-up configuration' down to 'cop ru st'. We use H3C equipment at uni though and I much prefer that over Cisco, also Cisco's more recent core equipment hasn't been on par with other companies according to my Prof.[/QUOTE] I wish i had more customers that were big enough to fully utilize cisco equipment. I'd love to get my hands dirty with actual equipment rather than using emulators like packet tracer or something, which is great to learn on btw.

[QUOTE=Frankiscool!;38869367]I wish i had more customers that were big enough to fully utilize cisco equipment. I'd love to get my hands dirty with actual equipment rather than using emulators like packet tracer or something, which is great to learn on btw.[/QUOTE] At college we where using Packet Tracer and Cisco gear that was a good 5 to 10 years old, mostly referbs that barely worked but the stuff at Uni is amazing. We have a Power Distribution Unit, a Serial Console Server, four Routers, two Layer 3 Switches and two Layer 2 Switches each for our lab work. We're currently doing MPLS and BGP at the moment.

this thread is full of nerds