Cisco folds Linksys into SME channel

Vendor merges subsidiary's small business partner programme and products with its own

Cisco boss John Chambers hinted last year that Linksys brand may be dropped altogether

Vendor Cisco has announced it is to merge subsidiary Linksys' small business channel programme and products into its own SME operations.

Resellers that are part of the Linksys Small-Business Channel Partner Programme will now have until 16 September to become Cisco Registered Channel Partners. Linksys Business Series products will now also be brought into the Cisco SMB range.

Dan Schwab, president of Cisco distributor D&H Distributing, which focuses on the North American SME market, said: “We have been hoping that Cisco would merge the two channel partner programmes into a unified SMB partner programme that would span products, services and support. A single Cisco relationship will definitely mitigate challenges and simplify how we do business with our channel partner community. Quite simply, the whole is more than the sum of the parts for Cisco and Linksys.”

Andrew Sage, Cisco's vice president of small business sales for worldwide channels, added: “The SMB market continues to present tremendous growth potential for Cisco and our channel partners, and we have been successfully serving the sector with solutions from both Cisco and Linksys.

"We believe that taking a coordinated approach across technology and go-to-market strategies is a natural evolution that brings greater synergies to our customers and channel partners alike. This includes an array of channel program benefits to meet the broad requirements presented by our partners’ customer base, all designed to increase revenue potential and enable us to focus collectively on serving the SMB customer.”

The merger follows the formation of Cisco's Small Business Council earlier this summer, which is headed by a triumvirate of Cisco veterans. These include chief marketing officer Sue Bostrom, senior vice president of worldwide channels Keith Goodwin and Ian Pennell, who is senior vice president of the vendor's small business technology group. The council aims to provide the vendor with a cohesive and comprehensive global approach to the small business market.