Graeme Reardon routes away from Linksys

The Australian managing director of Cisco's consumer networking products has left the company.

Graham Reardon was on leave, his role filled by Craig Gledhill Asia-Pacific vice-president for the Asia Pacific for Cisco's consumer business group, Linksys.   

"Everybody appreciates all the work he's undertaken and the success he has made for bringing home networking throughout the region,"  said a Cisco spokesman.

"He will be missed, that's for sure.    

"Cisco is now searching for someone to head up an important part of its consumer growth plans for Australia and New Zealand."   

Reardon was with the business for almost five years and worked for D-Link before that.  

Cisco bought Linksys in 2003 as an entry-point into the small business and consumer markets.

Reardon was hired at the time to oversee Linksys in Australia and New Zealand as its regional manager.

But Cisco disbanded Linksys' channel program last August.

At the time, the networking giant encouraged Linksys' small business channel partners to join its partner program.

"Cisco Australia is supporting the global initiative to incorporate Linksys' Small-Business Channel Partner Program services and assets into Cisco's Channel Partner Program," said Sara Adams, regional sales manager, SMB Cisco Australia.

"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."

Reardon has not spoken about the changes and made no comments about the Cisco takeover.