Linking networks together

The networking giant made no bones about blurring the lines between it and its Linksys division by rolling out a VoIP system under the Cisco brand name that targets customers with 16 or fewer users.

Linksys was acquired by Cisco in 2003, a then-privately-held company. Cisco’s goal was to enter the home networking market. Linksys’ goal was to partner with a company that would assist it in driving new products into the consumer market.

Operating as a division of Cisco, Linksys’ products continue to sell under the Linksys brand through its existing retail, distributor and e-commerce channels. In addition, Linksys now has access to Cisco’s sales infrastructure to address international markets and the service provider channel.

Based in Irvine, California, Linksys specialises in products and solutions that provide effortless and economical sharing of broadband Internet connections, files, printers, digital music, videos, photos and gaming over a wired or wireless network.

‘Big brother’ has certainly been instrumental in pushing brand awareness for Linksys’ products, giving the company an edge over competitors such as NetGear, D-Link and 3-Com, in the SOHO market, said Graeme Reardon, regional director A/NZ at Linksys.

“Cisco is a huge company and has the ability to do things such as purchase a company, for example Sipura two years ago, on Linksys’ behalf. Also Linksys can manufacture and market CPE for service providers, no-one else has that capability,” said Reardon.

Cisco and Linksys’ business don’t clash either, according to Reardon. Small businesses go with a Cisco solution because of its complex nature, which can be outsourced to a third party to deal with. Linksys is generally purchased by the owner of a smaller business and has a simple plug-and-play solution.

Networking the home
Since Reardon started at the networking vendor two years ago, things have been non-stop for the regional director and it doesn’t look as if it will slow down with the advancement of home technology.

“I think we are at the tipping point of the connected office and digital home becoming more realistic. However the standards for consumer electronics to talk to networking companies’ products is only just coming to market and won’t really be at the cusp until the end of 2007,” he said. “By 2008 we will see a plethora of products, services and service providers which will give users the ability to stream content across devices.”

Reardon believes with more focus on content ramp up, what the industry calls digital home and the connected home will move forward a lot faster.
“In the past six months service providers have rolled out technologies such as ADSL 2 and 2+, which has seen an increase in the take-up of key applications such as VoIP because people can do more with the technology and access more features,” he said.

However from a home perspective it’s not about prices, there’s bandwidth issues – which can be a video killer, said Reardon.
Reardon said Asia is ahead in the digital home game because of the population density of most countries. Australia’s disperse population has not allowed it to take advantage of pre-configured homes.

“We are seeing partners such as Docklands pre-configuring homes so users can be wired up to become digital home ready before they move in. Pre-configured apartments and homes are popular in high-density countries such as China, Hong Kong and Singapore. The only place you could do that in Australia is Canberra because it has the right conditions in the city,” he said.

However Reardon said Australia’s broadband issues will be resolved once more infrastructure is placed through the ground.

Buzz words
For Reardon, it’s exciting times, with more and more people such as research organisation IDC noticing the number of people becoming interested in networking their home. Instead of sharing networks, home entertainment products are talking to each other through multiple sources of content. One of the good examples is PS3 and the XBox360.

“There is a small niche of home users streaming content into the lounge room. However it is on the mass consumer’s mind about what can be done with those types of devices.

Where does Reardon see this digital home ‘convergence’ going? Right now he believes convergence is just ‘one of those buzz words’ people are using because the landscape of IT has changed dramatically.

He said technology is no longer about single device products and IT generally is available in a group of solutions, moreso now than two or three years ago.
“There’s a lot more training to be done with IT products today, vendors have to work with distributors to understand the changes of single technology to solutions devices. Now you have mobile phones with cameras, Bluetooth and video stream and other technologies you could only dream about five years ago,” he said.

Reardon believes it then all goes back to the digital home, just because “you say home, it really is about connecting everything you use. “ He said the opportunities are limitless in what you can connect, for example if someone is listening to music in the car and they get home they don’t have to stop listening to the music, it goes through the mobile phone, then audio and finally watch the clips through the TV.

“This is the sort of stuff people are thinking about. It will all come
down to content – people want the content to follow them. I think that
is the key to the trends we are going to see,” he said. “I think Linksys’ content will need to come from somewhere and that can perhaps be the service provider.”

The technology available has progressed a great deal and the
price has also come down a lot, said Reardon.

When he was at D-Link for four years, one of the first DSL modems for a home user was priced at $1183. Today, an entry-level Ethernet model comes free with bundled Internet deals from service providers.

Different working environments
Reardon’s passion for technology has led him to work at a few interesting organisations, however his career didn’t start that way.

Around four years ago, he started his career with soft drink providers Lloyd products. Reardon left the world of soft drinks to join a start-up dot.com, Kidz.net, which was his introduction to the world of IT.

After the company went bust, Reardon found himself at Next Step Broadband (now owned by NEC) then D-Link and then followed by his current position at Linksys.
“It has certainly been an interesting decade. I have seen many changes but the thing that sticks out most in my mind is Ingram’s purchase of Tech Pacific.

From that, other small players have started to emerge into the market to fulfill niche needs,” he said.

Reardon has always had a passion for IT and is technically literate with DSL cable and VoIP.

“I have always had a bit of a passion, I can remember in my school days I was always interested in playing with computers. I was pulling them apart and building multiple PC networks – I still do that today but I have a lot of cool services hanging off it. I think it’s what most people might want their network look like,” he said.

However it’s his family that keeps Reardon up all night, especially with a 10-month-old baby.

“It is stressful and there are some crazy hours, but I am fortunate to have family close by and we can go and socialise with them,” he said. “On weekends my eight-year-old has many sporting events so I am busy taking him to those.”