Cisco To Get Into Consumer Electronics

Cisco is planning to get into the consumer electronics marketplace and will sell products ranging from phones to home theater equipment, the Financial Times reported this week.

A Cisco executive said in an interview with Financial Times that the long-time network equipment vendor is moving toward consumer electronics because of a changing marketplace.

"The Internet and new networking requirements are enough of a disruptor for us to enter a new market," Charles Giancarlo, Cisco's chief development officer and head of the company's Linksys division, said.

While Giancarlo provided few specifics, many new applications, such as voice-over-IP and IP-based television, are starting to run over home networks. Cisco's Linksys business unit serves those markets but, so far, has primarily focused on wireless networking equipment such as routers.