Linksys

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since February 2007.

Linksys
Type	Network hardware manufacturing
Founded	1988
Founder	Victor and Janie Tsao
Headquarters	Irvine, California, United States
Key people	President: Charles H. Giancarlo
Products	Network hardware for home and small businesses
Employees	700+ (as of March 2007)
Owner	Cisco Systems
Slogan	At Linksys - We are making connectivity easier.
Website	www.linksys.com

A 802.11b wireless linksys router with a wired 4-port switch.

Linksys is a division of Cisco Systems that sells products for home and small office networks. Originally founded in 1988, Linksys was acquired by Cisco in 2003. Although best known for their broadband and wireless routers, Linksys also manufactures ethernet switching and VoIP equipment, as well as many other various products.

1 WRT54G
2 NSLU2 open source projects
3 Acquisition of Sipura Technologies
4 External links

[edit] WRT54G

Perhaps the most notable product produced by Linksys was the WRT54G. To minimize costs, Linksys decided to base the firmware upon the Linux operating system. Consumer level routers consist of a processor and operating system, with the majority of the features implemented as software code with dedicated physical hardware kept to a minimum to save manufacturing costs. However, consumer routers have been known to be unreliable due to their dependence upon 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.

In 2003, Columbia Law School Professor Eben Moglen pointed out 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 Linux GNU General Public License, or GPL. After some period of time, Cisco acknowledged its obligation, released the code, and revealed the secrets of how the software code interfaced to 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 expectations of both stability and features on the part of consumers 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 labelled the WRT54GL, but has not for its flagship products.

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.

[edit] NSLU2 open source projects

The NSLU2 is a network storage device. It does not have much storage capacity itself, but does have two USB ports to allow external hard drives to be attached. There are various projects to enable the usage of Linux on the machine.