There have been some conflicting messages about whether or not networking giant Cisco, whom purchased linksys in 2003, was going to kill the Linksys brand name. John Chambers recently reiterated his desire to phase-out the Linksys brand name, whereas Cisco's corporate blog says the brands can co-exist.

For those of us who work in the Information Technology industry, Cisco is one of the dominant name in networking gear at the enterprise level. The hardware and software work fairly well. Documentation is fairly extensive. Their support is top-notch. Cisco is quality stuff.

Linksys, on the other hand, is almost the antithesis of quality. Their gear works, but it has a habit of crapping out frequently. The documentation is non-existent. Support, well, let's just say it's sub-par. It's nowhere near the same level of quality as Cisco-branded gear, but it's much better than comparable alternatives in most cases.

Personally, I think Cisco would do greater harm to the Cisco brand by dropping the Linksys brand than whatever perceived benefit they might get from using one brand everywhere. Consumer-grade and Enterprise-grade gear, while they frequently do similar functions, have very different requirements. Keeping the branding different reinforces that.

The only reason this might affect most gadgeteers out there is you might suddenly see a different name on those blue boxes you buy, or maybe entirely redesigned boxes that reflect Cisco's designs. But maybe you have a thought on this, so please leave them in the comments.

Hat tip to GigaOm.