Despite everything Apple is expected to unveil at WWDC today, a corridor-mapping human scale telepresence robot probably won’t be on the agenda; for that, we’ll have to wait for iRobot and Cisco’s Ava 500. Built on the iRobot modular Ava platform, the video collaboration ‘bot mounts a Cisco EX60 telepresence screen – complete with HD
It’s no secret that iRobot’s domestic cleaning machines can carry some interesting things while they putter around and wipe up your floors, and iRobot and Cisco have taken that notion to its next logical step. The two companies have just announced that they’ve taken this smart roving robotics platform and stuck this pricey enterprise video conferencing monitor on top, all to facilitate West Wing-style walk-and-talks with colleagues who couldn’t be bothered to schlep into the office.
We’ve seen plenty of curious telepresence rigs before, but this is one of the few that makes it a point to break away from the confines of a desk. Once everything is put together, the Ava 500 stands at about 5’5″ and artfully dodges office debris the same way the more janitorial units do. Meanwhile, those remote users also get to control that roving robot by way of an iPad app, though the process isn’t as hands-on as one might hope — the Ava 500 handles most of the control itself after the user selects a destination so it’s perfect for remotely touring dangerous corners of the factory floor, but not so perfect for doing donuts outside of Conference Room B.
In case the notion of buying one of these to remotely dick around with friends has you reaching for your checkbook, you may want to look into a less ambitious way to go. iRobot looks at the Ava 500 as a strictly enterprise device and it has a price tag to match: according to the Boston Herald, the Ava will cost companies in the neighborhood of $70,000 when it launches next year, or about $2,000-$2,500 if you lease it monthly.
We fully expected to see iRobot offer up further applications for its Ava development platform after *ahem* rolling out the RP-VITA, a medically-themed team up with In-Touch Health. The company’s second partner is a biggie: it’ll be working with Cisco on the Ava 500 telepresence bot. The system looks quite similar to the VITA, sporting what appears to be a nearly identical base. As with its predecessor, Ava’s controlled by a fairly simple iPad program — you can either pick a destination on a map or choose from a list of employee names and rooms you’d like to visit. Once inputted, the robot is autonomous in navigation, getting to the destination, while avoiding people and obstacles. When the meeting’s over, it’ll return to its base for charging.
On the top, however, you’ll find Cisco’s TelePresence EX60 end-point, bringing the company’s widely adopted platform to the mobile base, courtesy of a 21.5-inch HD display. The user’s face will show up on the screen as the ‘bot navigates through the halls, allowing you to talk about last night’s Mad Men, should you (figuratively) run into anyone around the water cooler. You can also switch to private mode, if telepresence small talk isn’t your thing. iRobot and Cisco will be showing off Ava at Infocomm later this month. If you can’t wait for that, however, you’ll find out a bit more in the press release after the break.
Filed under: Robots
Cisco is the world’s largest maker of networking equipment. The company has been embroiled in a lawsuit with a patent licensing company called XpertUniverse. The case has been heard in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware and has to do not only with the failed partnership, but patent infringement as well.
Cisco has been ordered to pay $70 million in civil fraud damages to XpertUniverse after a failed partnership. Cisco was also fined for infringing on two patents held by the other company that have to do with offering the ability to contact experts online to answer questions. The patent infringement resulted in fines of over $33,000.
The trial in the case lasted two weeks and stems from a suit filed in 2009. XpertUniverse claimed during the trial that officials at Cisco strung them along for over six months with the possibility of a lucrative partnership without unveiling that Cisco had actually already rejected the deal. XpertUniverse alleged “fraudulent concealment” in the lawsuit and the legal team for the company said during the case that Cisco’s actions “led to the destruction of the company.”
Cisco says that it already intends to appeal and believes that the evidence presented during the trial doesn’t support the verdict rendered. Cisco also notes that the judge has a number of issues to consider to determine whether or not the jury verdict will stand. The XpertUniverse legal team says that it is happy the client has been vindicated.
[via Bloomberg]
Cisco ordered to pay $70 million jury verdict is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Linksys and Cisco are no longer one. The enterprise infrastructure giant, which acquired the home networking line in 2003, has officially passed the baton to Belkin. Under the new arrangement, Linksys devices and services, such as routers and Smart WiFi products, will fall under the Belkin umbrella. CEO Chet Pipkin announced plans to maintain both brands, adding that Linksys “will continue to exist and evolve to include even richer user experiences and network management functionality.” Going forward, teams from both Linksys and Belkin may work together to create certain products, so we might begin to see new innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Consumers are unlikely to experience any hiccups during the transition — the Linksys website will remain intact and support services will be available as always. Hit up the press release after the break for a few more details surrounding the acquisition.
Filed under: Networking
It looks as though last month’s rumor of Cisco looking to sell its Linksys division turned out to be true as we have just received a press release from Belkin announcing they plan to buy Linksys.
Belkin has entered into an agreement with Cisco to purchase its Home Networking Business Unit, which includes the Linksys brand and its employees. Belkin, which is also a major player in the home networking world, hasn’t announced the terms of the agreement, instead saying is very excited about today’s announcement.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Radioline Goes to the Connected TVs with Mstar and to the Car with Parrot, One in five U.S. households have Internet-enabled TVs [Research], 
It’s been a weird decade for Cisco. After being a dot-com darling in the late 90s (everyone wanted a few Cisco routers for their door-to-door pet food delivery services), the company tried its hand at consumer products with the Flip video camera series and, a little while later, Linksys routers. It seems, then, that Cisco’s grand consumer experiment is over.
The terms of the sale are undisclosed but it should close in March of this year. Belkin has been taking a harder look at networking hardware for the past few years while still maintaining their ties to the computer accessory market that defined the company for years. Their current crop of routers are aimed at home users so Linksys could give Belkin a bit of an edge in the home/small office market.
What’s more interesting, however, is where Cisco hopes to go now that the company has divested itself of all consumer products. Consumer electronics are a horrible business. The margins are low and demand fluctuates depending on what comes out of Cupertino or Redmond. In short, there’s very little incentive to sell hardware to consumers when they’re fickle, hungry for Zappos-esque “You screwed up so give me free stuff” support, and rarely, if ever, upgrade their PCs and peripherals. What electronics manufacturer wants to waste his time with consumers when IT clients sign a nice contract and pay on time?
But the consumer market is leading the IT market. The story in CE these days is BYOD – I get emails about it nearly every day – and IT managers used to dropping a few thousand on fleet laptops now have to contend with people bringing in iPads, Surfaces, MacBooks, and their own mini-routers. It’s a maddening situation, to be sure.
Big iron isn’t the watchword anymore. Buying a Cisco router for a small home office barely makes sense and, increasingly, it makes even less sense for a bigger office. That is not to say that IT infrastructure isn’t lucrative – it’s just not as lucrative.
Belkin should be able to do good things with Linksys. Cisco clearly couldn’t.
Belkin has just struck a deal to acquire Cisco’s Home Networking Business Unit, which will bring Linksys’ name, products, technology and employees under its new owner’s umbrella. Mothballing isn’t in the cards for Linksys, however, as Belkin plans to keep the brand alive and even offer support for its existing products. The two networking titans haven’t said a peep regarding a sticker price, but they expect the pact to be finalized in March. Once the transaction is rubber stamped, Belkin figures it’ll compose roughly 30 percent of the home and small business networking retail market in the US. Hit the jump for the press release.
BELKIN ANNOUNCES INTENT TO ACQUIRE CISCO’S HOME NETWORKING BUSINESS UNIT
Acquisition to Bolster Belkin’s Position in the Home Networking Market, Building on the Strong Linksys Brand and Innovative Suite of Product and Software Solutions
Playa Vista, Calif. – January 24, 2013 – Belkin, a private company based in Playa Vista, Calif., with operations and sales in more than 100 countries, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cisco’s Home Networking Business Unit, including its proven products, technology, well-known Linksys brand and talented employees. With global operations, Linksys’ main office is located in Irvine, Calif.
“We’re very excited about this announcement,” said Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin. “Our two organizations share many core beliefs – we have similar beginnings and share a passion for meeting the real needs of our customers through the strengths of an entrepreneurial culture. Belkin’s ultimate goal is to be the global leader in the connected home and wireless networking space and this acquisition is an important step to realizing that vision.”
Belkin intends to maintain the Linksys brand and will offer support for Linksys products as part of this transaction. All valid warranties will be honored by Belkin for current and future Linksys products. After the transaction closes, Belkin will account for approximately 30 percent of the U.S. retail home and small business networking market.
“Linksys pioneered wireless connectivity capability around the globe, and has a strong brand renowned for its premium market position, the strength of its installed base and its proven dependability. Linksys users benefit from peace of mind in their home networking environment. At Belkin we have developed great insight into consumer needs, and the experiences, solutions and products we bring to the market, including our WeMo home automation platform, will help us to grow Linksys’ market presence,” Pipkin said.
“Linksys is one of the leading home networking providers and has created a market-leading suite of products and services to meet customer needs,” said Hilton Romanski, VP Corporate Business Development, Cisco. “While part of Cisco, Linksys has continuously innovated, while strengthening the brand and expanding its market leadership. As part of Cisco’s commitment to service providers, we are pleased about this strategic relationship with Belkin to build on Linksys’ position of strength.”
“With complementary innovation and engineering strategies in the combined organization, Belkin will be able to create new opportunities for consumers, distribution partners and resellers, and will have the strongest retail presence in the U.S. networking marketplace. Belkin also will have access to a large installed base that will be able to upgrade their networking environment to take advantage of new technologies in the smartphone, tablet, notebook and home automation arenas,” Pipkin said. “Additionally, Linksys will enhance Belkin’s capabilities to meet the needs of the service provider space and small business users.”
Belkin and Cisco intend to develop a strategic relationship on a variety of initiatives including retail distribution, strategic marketing and products for the service provider market. Having access to Cisco’s specialized software solutions across all of Belkin’s product lines will bring a more seamless user experience for customers. Merging the innovation capabilities of Linksys and Belkin provides a powerful platform from which to develop the next generation of home networking technology.
“At Belkin, we’re committed to enabling great experiences for users of today’s mobile and connected home technologies,” Pipkin said. “The acquisition of Linksys and the combination of Belkin’s and Linksys’ expertise and innovation will position us to meet the demands of today’s rapidly evolving advances in technology. We look forward to honoring the heritage of the Linksys brand and investing in the continuing evolution of its product portfolio. Together, we will provide a powerful, simple to use, and reliable wireless and networking platform for the markets we serve.”
Specific financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed. The transaction is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in March 2013.
Filed under: Networking
Source: Belkin
Today Belkin announced that it has big acquisition plans for the future, revealing that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Cisco‘s home networking business. This means that Belkin will be buying the Linksys brand, among other things. Hearing that, it becomes immediately clear how big of a deal this is for Belkin, considering that Linksys large installed base will be coming along with the brand.
Belkin, obviously, will continue the Linksys brand post-acquisition, and it doesn’t sound like much will be changing for current Linksys customers. Belkin will offer support for the Linksys line, and it says in its announcement that it will honor all valid warranties on “current and future” Linksys products. So, it sounds like the only thing changing for Linksys consumers is the switch from Cisco to Belkin.
After this deal closes, Belkin says it will have a 30% share in the home networking market all to itself, which is certainly nothing to scoff at. This is also the beginning of a strategic relationship for Belkin and Cisco, as the two will now team up to tackle things like retail distribution and marketing. So, not only are the two making a pretty big deal, but they’re also coming out the other end as buddies.
As is usually the case, the terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Despite that, it wouldn’t surprise us in the least to hear that Belkin has paid a pretty penny for Cisco’s home networking arm. Belkin expects the deal to close sometime in March 2013, so it shouldn’t be very long until your Linksys products are handled by Belkin.
Belkin gears up to acquire Cisco’s home networking division is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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