Cisco is officially exiting the consumer business. In a move that comes as a surprise to some, Belkin announced Thursday that it will acquire Cisco’s Home Networking Business Unit, which includes the Linksys brand.
Although terms of the deal weren’t made public, a whopper of an arrangement must have been secured, particularly in light of the fact that Belkin will now retain close to one-third of the total U.S. retail home and small business networking market.
“We’re very excited about this announcement,” says Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin. “Our two organizations share many core beliefs – we have similar beginnings and share a passion for meeting the real needs of our customers through the strengths of an entrepreneurial culture. Belkin’s ultimate goal is to be the global leader in the connected home and wireless networking space and this acquisition is an important step to realizing that vision.”
Belkin says it will maintain the Linksys brand and will offer support for Linksys products as part of this transaction.
Belkin and Cisco announced Thursday that they will “develop a strategic relationship on a variety of initiatives including retail distribution, strategic marketing and products for the service provider market.”
