Published by ZDNet Australia, December 16 2003

Cisco plans to kick off 2004 in Australia with a major push for its Linksys home wireless networking brand -- a move which may see the network giant re-establish relations with distributor Tech Pacific.

Cisco acquired Linksys in a $US500 million deal in March this year. While the brand has an estimated 65 percent market share in the States, that hasn't yet translated into regional success.

"Linksys isn't particularly well-known in Australia," said Ross Fowler, Cisco Australia managing director. "In the past, you'd have been able to buy it with some difficulty."

The company hopes to change that over the next six months. "We will have a limited amount of distribution before Christmas, and a much wider channel program next year," said Fowler, who joined Cisco in October.

Part of that strategy could include building a new relationship with Tech Pacific. Cisco dropped the distributor as part of a consolidation of its enterprise channels earlier this year. However, Fowler said that Tech Pacific remained a good fit for reaching SOHO users, and discussions were ongoing. Linksys already has relationships with Ingram Micro and Multimedia Technology.

Cisco will need some major distributor clout to increase its market share in the competitive SOHO space. According to Gartner data released in July, Cisco has just 6.4 percent of the local WLAN market, well behind market leaders D-Link (21.5 percent) and Netgear (11.6 percent). Most of its share is believed to be with its own branded products, rather than Linksys gear.