Cisco refuses to deny it will sell off Linksys

Cisco router is understood to be planning to sell off its consumer router Linksys business. The company has declined to squash the rumour.

According to people familiar with the situation, the network giant is mulling over letting go of its WebEx brand, too. The moves could come as soon as next week.
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A Cisco spokesman told The Register today that the company was not willing to "comment on rumour and speculation".

Just last week, when discussing the firm's third quarter results, Cisco boss John Chambers said that the company would be scaling back on products and people.

Over the past few months analysts have been wondering if cisco871 would offload Linksys among other consumer brands.

Cisco bought Linksys in March 2003 in a $500m all-stock deal. Four years later it snapped up web-conferencing outfit WebEx in a big $2.9bn acquisition. Both buys were bold moves by cisco 871 to widen its portfolio by offering consumer products.

Then cut to last month when the company closed its Flip camera business not long after Chambers said in an internal memo to Cisco staff that he wanted to "simplify the way we work and how we focus our attention and resources".