Linksys to change its partner program

According to Craig Gledhill, vice president of Linksys APAC (pictured), the company has recently made significant changes in expanding the coverage of its consumer channel and has hired more staff.

“We have seen a 200 percent growth of the team. Our mandate is that we grow the consumer group for Cisco and develop that market,” he said.

Gledhill said announcements to the partner program will be made at its forthcoming Asia Pacific Distributors Conference in Bali on 12-14th November and Linksys will also develop its e commerce strategy.

“We are looking for channels to help grow the e commerce sector. This will be both significant here and in APAC.

"We need to put more investment into that space. It is an opportunity for existing or new channel partners,” said Gledhill.

The vice president said changes needed to be made because after Cisco acquired Linksys in 2003, Linksys has been doing business in three key segments: consumer, small business and service provider, but since the acquisition, Linksys had not delivered on its consumer focus.

“This is the year we put the stake in the ground. We need to put Cisco on the consumer road map," said Gledhill.

“In the US, we are the number one consumer provider in this category of router product, but here in Australia, we have got a long way to go.

“A lot of it is because we previously did not have the focus of what we are going to have now and our goal for APAC for the new fiscal year is to have a significant double digital year on year growth in percentage.

“We will develop our channel program to help promote the consumer side of the business. And at our annual partner conference we will share some of the programs and activities we want to develop,” added Gledhill.