Cisco has revealed a new lineup of Linksys E-Series family of wireless routers and new next-generation switches, engineered to meet our insatiable demands for Wi-Fi and networking with the explosion of tablets, game consoles, Internet video usage and other popular consumer devices.
Five routers make up the new E-Series offerings. Select routers in the new line have been designed to reach speeds of up 450 Mbits/s. Other highlighted features include 3x3 spatial stream configuration for greater coverage, external power amplifiers which help reduce dead spots and boost signal range, and virtual USB for connecting printers, storage and other devices to a network.
The latest E-Series routers sport a sleek industrial design that recently earned the 2011 Red Dot Product Design Award for product design, innovation and quality. Cisco/Linksys has said it strives to not only make the routers enrich networking performance and throughut but to make them aesthetically pleasing.
Each of the routers includes Cisco's Connect software that makes setup and management near-seamless for users. These new devices have the latest Cisco Connect version, which includes an Internet Speed test utility that can measure the bandwidth and speed of a user's Internet connection.
According to a study from IDC, currently 39 percent of U.S. homes have wireless, with only 11 percent running wireless-N. IDC predicts wireless-N adoption to double as a result of the growth of Wi-Fi devices such as tablets, smartphones, and Internet-connected TVs. Simon Fleming-Wood, vice-president of marketing, Cisco Consumer Products says that the new lineup, "offers an array of solutions for the needs of today's home networking consumer—from basic Internet surfing to video and music streaming, to gaming."
The table below details the new router and switch models, as well as pricing and highlighted features:
The new line of switches include the Linksys SE1500 5-Port 10/100 Switch for $29.99, the Linksys SE2500 5-Port Gigabit Switch for $54.99, and the Linksys SE2800 8-Port Gigabit Switch for $74.99. The full line of routers and switches are available today from retailers or though the Linksys store.