IMAPS winter conference announced

Not only for both companies but for the overall WLAN market in general.What we have here are two WLAN giants morphing into one. Cisco will now be able to offer Linksys products to customers who do not want or cannot afford its own high-priced and technically robust gear. At the same time, Cisco will now have its foot in the door of the consumer networking market. Here, it can leverage its strength and knowledge in networking.Linksys, on the other hand, is now backed by one of the strongest names in networked computing, giving it a level of credibility that belies its relative youth and opportunities to expand into areas that otherwise would have been very costly. With Cisco at its side, Linksys will now be able to more easily enter markets such as with the cable MSOs who may need Wi-Fi access points for their broadband access customers but who do not necessarily want to pay the price premium for a Cisco-branded product.This acquistion is a further move by Cisco into the desktop, an area it had previously avoided. Cisco's recent aquisition of Okena, to provide host intrusion detection and destop firewall, along with Linksys' wireless client equipment is a departure from Cisco's normal focus. These companies technologies along with Cisco's Secure VPN Client could signify a move toward more secure WLAN connections for enterprise and the SOHO user. As for the overall WLAN hardware market, this is just another sign that it is consolidating as it matures. We believe that this announcement will make the WLAN hardware environment that much more competitive. Cisco's strong networking background, brand name and deep pockets aligned with the manufacturing and retailing ability of Linksys has the ability to sweep all before them.Although many of Linksys' products compete with the products Cisco gained in the acquision of Aironet, Linksys' mastery of the retail channel, and ability to effectively compete in a comodified marketplace is a strong gain. Cisco will be challenged to differentiate these products to maintian the price differential of the Linksys and Aironet gear.There are a couple of questions or concerns that should be raised with this merger. First, how independent will Linksys be within the Cisco fold? Will Linksys have to use Cisco-developed chipsets? How will the relationship between Linksys and Cisco's Aironet products play out? Will the additional performance and capabilities of these chipsets significantly affect Linksys' products and make them ultimately non-price-competitive in a market where price rules?Second, how will Cisco be able to keep its brand from being diluted by Linksys'? Will there come a day where Cisco's core customers demand that their WLAN products be from Linksys on the premise that it's all the same company? Will Cisco be able to keep Linksys at an arms' length? It would be disastrous for both companies if they are not able to keep a focus on what their original missions were.As can be seen, this acquisition promises to make the WLAN hardware market that much more interesting going forward.Comments by Wai Sing Lee, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan