Linksys

Infobox Company | company_name = Linksys
company_
company_type = Network hardware manufacturing
company_slogan = At Linksys - We are making connectivity easier.
foundation = 1988
founder = Victor Tsao
location_city = Irvine, California
location_country = United States
key_people = President: Ned Hooper | num_employees = 700+ (as of March 2007) | products = Network hardware for home and small businesses
owner = Cisco Systems
homepage = [http://www.linksys.com/ www.linksys.com]

Advert|date=September 2008

Linksys, founded in 1988 and acquired by Cisco Systems in 2003 [ [http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/2119751 Cisco acquires Linksys for 500M] , Clint Boulton, March 20, 2003] , is the leader in salesFact|no numbers given to back it up.|date=September 2008 of home and small office network products. Linksys also manufactures broadband and wireless routers, consumer and small business grade ethernet switching, VoIP equipment, wireless internet video camera, AV products, network storage systems, and other products.

WRT54G

Perhaps the most notable product produced by Linksys was the WRT54G.

Consumer level routers consist of a processor and operating system, with most features implemented as software code with dedicated physical hardware kept to a minimum to save manufacturing costs. Consumer routers, however, have been known to be unreliable due to their dependence on software to provide features. Software-based routers not equipped with a fast processor can be slow to direct network traffic. The WRT54G was notable for having a fast processor but the firmware was imperfect and lacked high-end features.

Linksys decided to base the firmware upon the Linux operating system to reduce costs. Columbia Law School Professor Eben Moglen pointed out in 2002 that, due to the Linux-based nature of the firmware, Cisco was legally obligated to release the source code to the routers under the terms of the GNU General Public License or GPL. Cisco eventually acknowledged its obligation, released the code, and revealed the secrets of how the software code interfaced with the hardware.

This subsequently spawned an open source community dedicated to modding Linksys router firmware. Amateur programmers quickly learned how to add $600 features to $60 routers. This changed the dynamics of the router market as consumers' expectations of stability and features increased.

Linksys and other vendors then had to respond, since open source firmware is now freely available for licensing and customization, which would enable new router vendors to enter the market without the traditional barrier of having to develop the firmware code. The best consumer routers are now arguably comparable to what were formerly high-end routers.

The WRT54G and WRT54GS series of wireless routers were later changed to use a VxWorks kernel, which reduced the memory requirement for the box. Version 3 of the WRT54GS had 8 MB of flash, version 4 had 4 MB, and version 5 only 2 MB. The reduced flash capacity limits feature rich open source firmware from being added to standard Linksys routers. Linksys has continued production of a Linux-powered version labeled the WRT54GL, but it is not promoted as one of its flagship products.

A reaction to this is the open wireless hardware movement, including OpenPattern, [ [http://blog.onevillage.tv/wp/?p=482 Holistic ICT for EcoLiving » Open Hardware Router ] ] [ [http://wiki.freifunk.net/OpenHardware#Wireless_USB_devices OpenHardware - wiki.freifunk.net ] ] and the Open Flexible Router device.

More recently Linksys released the WRT54GL router which, like the original WRT54G, is based on Linux and therefore easier to upgrade with third party firmware. Although this practice is still not directly supported by Linksys it is an acknowledgment that enthusiasts are still interested in "tweaking" and redefining the multitude of uses of their routers.

The WRT54GS is a newer model of the WRT54G, which looks quite different; the WTR54GS (note the transposition of the second and third letters) is a "travel router" with an integral power supply, suitable for setting up an ad-hoc wireless network in a hotel room.

The WRT54G2 is a latest model of the WRT54G series. It features a new industrial design and sleek new profile which looks very different from all previous models in this line.

The WRT110 is a RangePlus router incorporating MIMO technology for extended range and is much faster than G when connected to Wireless-N.

WUSB54G series

The Linksys WUSB54G series of USB wireless adapters use the Ralink RT2500 chipset. [ [http://ralink.rapla.net/ Ralink chipsets based wireless devices ] ] They support the 802.11b and 802.11g wireless network standards, and have Open Source drivers available for Linux. [ [http://marc-abramowitz.com/archives/2007/02/20/setting-up-a-linksys-wusb54gc-wlan-adapter-in-ubuntu/ Marc Abramowitz » Setting up a Linksys WUSB54GC WLAN adapter in Ubuntu ] ]

Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) series

The Linksys wireless-N router lineup begins with the WRT160N which features a 4-port 10/100 switch. The claimed improvements are three times the range and nine times the speed over a standard wireless-G router.

The next step up is the WRT310N, which features a with a 4-port 10/100/1000 switch. The claimed improvements are four times the range and twelve times the speed over a standard wireless-G router.

The Linksys 610N is the company's flagship wireless router. It features a 4-port 10/100/1000 switch, broadcasts simultaneous dual (2.4 and 5 GHz) wireless bands, and a USB 2.0 storage link to accommodate an external hard drive. This model series is optimized for streaming multimedia contents and is the recognized leader in both performance and price among all other premier models in the industry.

Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA)

All new Linksys wireless routers are now shipped with the Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA), which is a video based application to assist PC and Mac users to setup, monitors, and repair their network.Note: The Latest version for Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA)is version 3.02

NSLU2

The NSLU2 (sometimes called the Slug) is a network attached storage device. It has a 266MHz IXP420 processor with 8MB of flash memory and 32MB of SDRam on the PCB. Externally it has two USB ports to allow external hard/flash drives or a USB modem to be attached and a 100MBs RS-232 Ethernet port. There are multiple open source projects based at www.nslu2-linux.org designed to expand the capabilities of the NSLU2 allowing it to perform many different tasks such as: Music server, Webserver, BitTorrent Client, Weather monitor (through the use of a USB attached Weather station)and many many more uses. This is possible through the many packages that can be installed on top of the base Linux (OS) system. [NSLU2-Linux]

Acquisition of Sipura Technologies

The parent company Cisco Systems acquired VoIP maker "Sipura Technologies" and made it part of its Linksys division on April 26, 2005.

SPA Series VoIP Products

With the Sipura acquisition Linksys got into the VoIP business. Sipura products are well tested and feature rich ranging from VoIP PBX to ATA and phones, all the products are SIP v2 compatible but they do have some quirks when Linksys decides to defer from the protocol on some features (ex WMI, Voice Messages).

SPA Series Phones

The SPA series is basically the original Sipura series SIP compatible phones.

SPA Series Products

Environmentally Conscious

Linksys products are packaged with recycled and biodegradable materials with ink that are made from soy and vegetables. They also use lower power consumption ENERGYSTAR certified adapters.

Criticism

While many Linksys home products fully support Mac OS X and Windows Vista, many current business models, such as the SRW2024 found in the business products/managed switches portion of their website [ [http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C1&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1134691195123&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper] ] are only available through an IE/ActiveX web interface [ [http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DSRW2024v1.2_ds.pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1193768549705&ssbinary=true&lid=8978590529B04 SRW2024 Datasheet] in PDF] . On these ActiveX dependent products, some advertisements and documentation make no mention of the operating system or browser requirements, leaving consumers to find out, after their purchase, that their Mac OS X, Linux and Unix systems are unable to configure the devices. An example of this are the SRW business series switches, where the official documentation [ [http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DSRW2016-SRW2024-v1.2_ug.pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1193768549742&ssbinary=true&lid=8983590529B06 SRW2024 Datasheet] in PDF] simply states, "Internet Explorer version 5.5 or above is recommended.", on page 42.

Notable offenders:
* The SRWXXXX line of managed Gigabit switches, for example SRW2008 and SRW2024

Linksys however does provide legacy interfaces to configure the devices, but only minimum functionality are accessible directly through the menu driven interface. Users may exit the menu and enter a Cisco IOS kind of CLI mode, exposing all configuration options by Serial console, Telnet and SSH [cite web|title="Real console on Linksys SRW2024 switch"|url="http://www.crc.id.au/real-console-on-linksys-srw2024-switch/"] .

Some devices like WAP54G [http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3588048#post3588048] unexpectedly prevent accessing the web interface with the documented username and password. However the username change ("admin" -> empty line) looks more like an innocent bug than an attempt to make the device not configurable under Linux.

Although unsubstantiated, Linksys "may" have responded to consumer's complaints by stating the following paraphrased positions:Fact|date=May 2008:
* These devices are not suitable for enterprise level functionality.
* Firmware upgrades are being developed, but do not yet have release dates.
* There is small demand for devices that can be configured by non-windows systems.

See also

* Broadcom
* Ralink

External links

* [http://www.linksys.com Official website]
* [http://forums.linksys.com User forum and support website] product help and support.
* [http://www.linksys.com/gpl Linksys GPL code center]
* [http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Product_C2%26cid%3D1134692497433&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper WET54G Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge] to connect a HiFi with a PC to play downloaded music.
* [http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2005/corp_042605.html?CMP=ILC-001 Linksys take over Sipura]
* [http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128236-c,cellphones/article.html The iPhone Is Launched ... By Linksys, Not Apple]
* [http://www.cisco.com Cisco.com]
* [http://www.sveasoft.com Sveasoft] firmware upgrades for Linksys routers.
* [http://www.linksysinfo.org LinksysInfo] community website dedicated to Linksys hardware.

References