Fresh off a company-wide, savings-driven, four-day office shutdown, Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers is scheduled to deliver the Friday afternoon keynote speech here at CES 2009.
But he came out early to announce formally Cisco's long-awaited push into the consumer home market.
Sure, Cisco has already been in the residential market via its acquisitions of Scientific-Atlanta and Linksys, but the enterprise vendor goliath has not followed through on a more collective digital home strategy until now.
The vendor announced a Wireless Home Audio system that leverages Wi-Fi-connected speakers throughout the home; a Media Hub that stores up to 500 gigabytes worth of music and other content and enables remote Internet access; as well as a hosted platform for helping companies to create online communities more efficiently.
It's an interesting beginning to a strategy that probably will develop further in coming months, yet it comes at a time that is sure to test the willingness of some consumers to invest in new household gadgets.
For more:
- CNET has this report