Cisco Intros Channel Support for Home and SOHO Sales

Looking to marry its Linksys channel partners with an effort to infiltrate the home market, Cisco is offering a new channel initiative in North America for resellers in the home and small office/home office space.

Called the Cisco Consumer Channel Network or Cisco CCN, the program will offer resellers the resources, tools and training they need to sell the Linksys line of Connected Home products including wireless routers, network storage, networked entertainment solutions, internet cameras, adapters, home network management software and other technologies.

Cisco announced the program in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

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Resellers who participate in the program are also eligible for tech support, sales tools, marketing resources, PR assistance and use of the CCN Registered Partner logo.

"We have found that resellers want channel initiatives specifically tailored to consumer products," says Bob Gregerson, vice president, North American sales, in a prepared statement.  "The Cisco Consumer Channel Network is in its first phase, and we'll be bringing additional features and offerings over the coming year."

Consumer sales have traditionally made up two-thirds of the U.S. economy, making them an attractive new target for companies that have historically played in the business-to-business space.

At last year's CES, Ingram Micro rolled out a consumer-targeted effort to its reseller partners.

And other organizations that serve the solution provider community have made an effort to help VARs make inroads into the consumer market as well.