Linksys survey shows that 59% of UK population who have broadband internet at home have a wireless network

More Than 25% Of UK Residents With a Wireless Network at Home Would Like To be Able to Access Music and Photos Remotely

London, UK – 11th July, 2008 – Linksys®, a Division of Cisco, and the recognised leading global manufacturer of voice, wireless, and networking hardware for home and Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), today announced the latest results from its Connected Life Consumer Trends Survey[1] carried out by YouGov. The survey was conducted to show the current state of wireless home networking in the UK market.

Online consumers certainly like their home gadgets with 96% of the respondents surveyed reporting that they have a PC/laptop at home, 69% a digital music player, 57% a DVR/PVR or hard disk recorder, 53% a games console and 15% a digital photoframe. With an increasing amount of exciting devices and gadgets now available for the home, from TV to film, music, gaming and photographs there is something for everyone’s entertainment and working needs.

Some of those surveyed are already making the most out of their gadgets to release the full potential of a wireless connected home. By connecting their home gadgets together over the home network consumers can surf the web, watch high definition video, listen to streaming music, share files, make Internet phone calls, and play online games entirely wirelessly in any room.

The survey revealed that people are already beginning to dispense with unnecessary cabling. 59% of UK residents surveyed, with a broadband internet connection at home, reported that they already have a wireless network.
• 87% of respondents with a wireless network and a PC/laptop have attached their PC/laptops to their wireless networks
• 28% have attached their printers
• 20% attached their games console
• 6% connected their digital music player

“The research shows that wireless networking is now a mass market technology – and not only for the tech savvy consumer. That very same consumer is the owner of their network and tools like our Linksys EasyLink Advisor help the consumer make sure that the network fulfils their expectations,” said Chris Dobrec, Director, Linksys Strategy and Business Development. “The consumer is by no means a computer network administrator – he or she is purely interested in the application of the network for tasks like accessing the internet wirelessly or printing wirelessly. It is the application that counts and we enable this through the network as the platform.”

Of respondents who expressed a desire to access their personal content throughout or away from the home, 37% reported that technical knowledge was preventing them from doing so, along with concerns over cost (25%), and the anticipated set up time involved (24%). The family home is going through a lot of changes. The rapid growth in broadband access, together with developments in wireless technology, like Wireless-N, is providing even more choice but increasingly consumers are often left confused.

Linksys is focused on developing products that not only look good but which are also consumer friendly. For example, the new range of routers (WRT160N and WAG160N) feature a stylish new design and come with improved usability features such as the Linksys Easylink Advisor (LELA), which helps simplify the set-up of the home network, and helps both manage connected devices and helps ensure network security. LELA is a personal technology expert that helps enable network expansion and is designed to maximise accessibility – without difficult language and terminology.

Design as well as ease of use it important for the connected home use. Linksys develops products using and holistic approach to focus on the interaction between the product and the customer to work on the full customer experience from purchase, to set up and to use in the home.

About Linksys
Founded in 1988, Linksys, a Division of Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the recognised global leader in voice, Wireless and Ethernet networking for consumer, SOHO and small business users. Linksys is dedicated to making networking easy and affordable for its customers, offering innovative, award-winning Linksys by Cisco products that seamlessly integrate with a variety of devices and applications. Linksys provides award-winning product support to its customers. For more information, visit www.linksys.com.

[1] Notes to the editors: All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2021 UK adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 21st – 23rd May 2008. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

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