Cisco Linksys gear targets boom in home use of 802.11n wireless nets

Cisco Tuesday announced a slew of routers and switches designed to address the explosion of home networked devices, from smartphones to table computers to Internet-enabled TVs.

Cisco says the market for home wireless routers, especially 802.11n gear, is ripe for expansion. It cites a November IDC report that found only 39% of U.S. homes have wireless, and just 11% are using 802.11n devices. Adoption of 802.11n is expected to nearly double over the next five years, as home users buy and install Wi-Fi-based devices, including smartphones, tablet computers and Internet-enabled TVs, Cisco says.

IN PICTURES: Cisco revamps Linksys with 7 new products

The new E-Series routers include the $60 entry-level E1200 (replacing the E1000), the $80 E1500, the $100 E2500 (simultaneous dual-band) and the $160 E3200 (home entertainment-driven). On the high end, Cisco is more widely distributing the $180 E4200, which was

Cisco also announced three new switches – the $30 SE1500 offers five 10/100 ports, the $55 SE2500 offers five Gigabit Ethernet ports, and the $75 SE2800 offers eight additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. The switches provide QoS for traffic prioritization, auto-sensing ports and “sleep mode” power saving options (for the two higher-end switches).

Cisco’s new crop of routers still don’t include IPv6, but Cisco promises that a free firmware upgrade will be available no later than the fall. Cisco had promised that IPv6 would ship in April for the high-end E4200 that launched in January, and the company reiterated that promise to Network World last week.

As for the remaining routers, availability of the firmware upgrades will “trickle in,” said Scott Kabat, director of marketing for Cisco Consumer Products. The firmware upgrade will automatically install but requires the user to manually trigger it by opening the management software. Cisco has still not revealed if firmware upgrades that include IPv6 will be made available to any router introduced before 2011.

Like the E4200 router, the E3200 includes a USB port for attaching an external hard drive, creating a network-attached storage device that operates through the router. The E3200 also supports the virtual USB option, which would allow for USB-enabled printers to connect across the network. However, Cisco says that this may require a software/firmware update, planned for summer.

Each of the new routers also includes Cisco Connect software, which aims to make router installation much easier and support parental controls that include time-of-day access and domain blocking. It also allows the setup of separate guest network access for visitors.

Read more about lans & wans in Network World’s LANs & WANs section.

Cisco Linksys gear targets boom in home use of 802.11n wireless nets

Cisco has announced a series of routers and switches designed to cope with the explosion of home networked devices, from smartphones to desktops to Internet-enabled televisions.

Cisco says that the market for wireless routers at home, especially 802.11n gear, is ripe for expansion. It cites a November report by IDC found that only 39% of U.S. households have wireless, and only 11% use 802.11n devices. Adoption of 802.11n is expected to nearly double over the next five years, as home users purchase and install Wi-Fi based devices, including smart phones, tablet computers and Internet-enabled televisions, Cisco says.

IN PICTURES: Linksys Cisco renewal with 7 new products

The new E-Series routers include the E1200 $ 60 entry-level (replacing the E1000), the $ 80 E1500, the E2500 $ 100 (simultaneous dual-band) and the E3200 $ 160 (home entertainment, motor .) At the high end of Cisco’s most widely distributed of the E4200 $ 180, which was announced in January.

Cisco also announced three new switches – the SE1500 $ 30 provides five 10/100 ports, the $ 55 SE2500 features five Gigabit Ethernet ports, and $ 75 SE2800 offers eight additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. The switches provide QoS for traffic prioritization, and auto-sensing ports “sleep mode” power saving options (for both high-end switches).

new crop of Cisco routers include IPv6 yet, but Cisco promises that a free firmware update will be available by fall. IPv6 Cisco had promised to ship in April, the high-end E4200 launched in January, and the company reiterated that the promise of the World Wide Web last week.

As for the rest of routers, the availability of firmware updates trickle, “said Scott Kabat, director of marketing for Cisco Consumer Products. The firmware update will install automatically, but requires the user to manually activate the open management software. Cisco has not yet revealed whether the firmware updates that include IPv6 will be made available to any router introduced before 2011.

Like the router E4200, the E3200 includes a USB port to connect an external hard drive, creating a storage device connected to the network that operates through the router. The E3200 also supports virtual USB option, which allows the ability to connect USB printers over the network. However, Cisco says this may require a software / firmware update, scheduled for the summer.

Each of the new Cisco routers also includes the Connect software, which aims to make installation easier and router support parental controls that include access to the time of day and domain blocking. It also allows configuration of network-independent access assessment for visitors.

Cisco Linksys routers still don’t support IPv6

It is difficult to understand why Cisco has not added IPv6 to its Linksys consumer routers yet, but the company is committed to supporting arrive this spring.

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It is 2011, the IPv4 addresses are officially sold out, and the world’s largest maker of routers, Cisco is not yet compatible with IPv6 in its best-selling line of Linksys wireless routers. This is true even for the router E4200 released last month (priced at $ 180). The company is committed to having IPv6 support for the Linksys line for spring, but has not been determined.

The networking world has been aware of the shortage of IPv4 addresses for years. Cisco’s competitors, D-Link and Netgear, for example, have been offering consumer certificates IPv6 routers for a while. Cisco routers support IPv6 company (of course) and have also been certified by the IPv6 Forum. Cisco has been involved in the IPv6 world day trial last year, even started to eat their own dog food IPv6, IPv6 serve content through its Web site www.ipv6.cisco.com. Heck, PC customers have had IPv6 support as an optional extra, since Windows XP SP2 and default from Vista. Mac OS has supported IPv6 since 2004.

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Updated: Cisco did not immediately address these issues, but offered this official statement:

“IPv6 is essential for next-generation Internet, enabling a range of new services and improved user experiences. As ISPs begin deployment of IPv6 services to its customers, consumers will need new routers and gateways that support IPv6 to participate in this next generation Internet. Later this spring, Cisco will begin to enable IPv6 on its entire line of consumer routers including the Linksys maximum performance E4200 Dual-Band Wireless-N Router. It is essential that consumers start to search for products and devices that support IPv6. Cisco has been and remains a leader in the development of IPv6 so that consumers can be sure that Cisco’s products offer superior performance of current first-line and provide a basis for the future. ”

After reading the statement he asked if Cisco’s words, “consumers will have new routers and gateways that support IPv6” meant that Cisco is going to require their customers to buy new routers with IPv6 support in routers available. We again asked whether there was any way for those who have recently bought new Cisco routers get when deploying IPv6, and if the routers of owning older also offer support for IPv6.

Update: We’ve received no response. After waiting three days for a response, Cisco, finally told us: “The E4200 has just launched Linksys and Linksys routers that will be launched this year -. IPv6 support out of the box or through a firmware update (free) “Cisco has not shared information on whether current users of Linksys routers will provide an update of the routers they already own.

When we asked questions similar Netgear, a company spokesperson told us: “Most of today not only Netgear routers support IPv6, but are also certified. We are working on IPv6 support for all our current shipping and routers will be available to customers in the form of a firmware update. “

Cisco Linksys among the “millions” of hackable routers

Ever wanted to cut millions of routers? Or try to stop someone doing it?

Perhaps a discussion at the next Black Hat conference in Las Vegas will help the objectives of one or both. And its title, “How to cut millions of routers,” cuts right to the chase as well.

The talk will be by Craig Heffner, senior security engineer seismic LLC, a Maryland-based provider of products cybersecurity at the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. In it, apparently Heffner disclosed how to exploit a lot of consumer routers through DNS rebinding, an existing technique in which attackers turn “browsers in the Web proxies are victims attackers bidding.

DNS rebinding trick browsers in search of the internal network servers of the victim under the direction of the attacker, who may order to find and send corporate data to an external machine while evading detection by the user and not to tamper with DNS servers. Discussion Heffner to describe how you can use to access the internal router facing administrative interface without previous knowledge of the destination router or its settings, and bypass all the safeguards in place rebinding.

Heffner even show a tool that automates the attack and allows the attacker to browse the destination router interface in real time, allowing the exploitation of vulnerabilities or connection through the default credentials.

Cisco Linksys routers are vulnerable to court, such as under the brand names ActionTec, Asus, Belkin, Dell and Thompson. ActionTec routers are CPE in the Verizon FiOS service and talk Heffner will include a live demonstration on how to infiltrate a FiOS router by rebinding hack.

Linksys releases new wireless router

Linksys has launched its new RangePlus Wireless Router (WRT110), which offers consumers high-speed, long range wireless networks.

About the size of a small paperback book and sporting a sleek design, the Linksys by Cisco WRT110 has a Smart Antenna MIMO technology captures faint signals for extended range and reduced dead spots with a single stream N technology.

As with all new Linksys routers this model also comes with LELA (Linksys EasyLink Advisor), an intelligent digital assistant that explains how to configure the router and arrange your home network.

LELA helps keep the network running and secure, that tells you when things go wrong and how to correct it.

The Linksys by Cisco RangePlus router and adapter is now available from dealers and retailers. price recommended by the manufacturer is selling the $79 USD.