Cisco Completes Acquisition of Pure Networks

Cisco (News - Alert) has acquired Seattle-based Pure Networks, a major player in home-networking-management software and tools.

 

Pure Networks' solutions allow users to easily set up and manage a home network and connect a range of devices, applications and services.

 

With the close of the transaction, Pure Networks will be integrated into Linksys (News - Alert), a division of Cisco.

 

Founded in 1988, Linksys, a division of Cisco, is a global player in voice, wireless and Ethernet networking for consumer, SOHO and small business users.

 

Linksys is dedicated to making networking easy and affordable for its customers, offering innovative, products that seamlessly integrate with a variety of devices and applications. Linksys provides product support to its customers.

 

Pure Networks acquisition provides Cisco with a fully integrated line of home-networking-management solutions that will also serve as the foundation for the development of new multimedia-enabled applications, tools and capabilities for consumers to use in an increasingly "connected life" at home, at work and on the go.

The acquisition further advances Cisco's consumer strategy by enhancing the development of the existing Linksys Easy Link Advisor (LELA) platform, which enables a consumer to more easily set up, organize, manage, secure and use a home network.

Cisco is the worldwide player in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.

 

As a natural evolution of the Cisco small and medium-sized business (SMB) go-to-market strategy, Cisco recently had announced that it is incorporating the Linksys Small-Business Channel Partner (News - Alert) Program services and assets into the Cisco Channel Partner Program.

 

This process includes bringing the Linksys Business Series products into the Cisco SMB portfolio and providing Cisco channel partners with access to a more diverse solution set to allow for more choice and increased revenue potential.

 

"We have been hoping that Cisco would merge the two channel partner programs into a unified SMB partner program that would span products, services and support," said Dan Schwab, president of D&H Distributing, a Cisco distribution partner that specializes on the SMB market in the United States and Canada, in a statement.

"A single Cisco relationship will definitely mitigate challenges and simplify how we do business with our channel partner community. Quite simply, the whole is more than the sum of the parts for Cisco and Linksys."

 

"The SMB market continues to present tremendous growth potential for Cisco and our channel partners, and we have been successfully serving the sector with solutions from both Cisco and Linksys," said Andrew Sage, vice president of Small Business Sales, Worldwide Channels at Cisco.

 

"We believe that taking a coordinated approach across technology and go-to-market strategies is a natural evolution that brings greater synergies to our customers and channel partners alike. This includes an array of channel program benefits to meet the broad requirements presented by our partners' customer base, all designed to increase revenue potential and enable us to focus collectively on serving the SMB customer."

 

The SMB channel and technology integration represents a broader company focus on the SMB opportunity with an increased focus on the small-business segment of the SMB market.