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Network equipment maker Cisco Systems aims to make its way into Chinese consumers' living rooms with consumer-oriented gear and services, which could generate a new revenue stream for the US tech giant.

Cisco mainly makes routers and switches, which direct the Internet and e-mail traffic and form the backbone of the worldwide Internet networks.

Although it was ranked 77th in Fortune 500 this year, the firm is much less known by average consumers as other brands, such as Apple, Microsoft and Nokia, as it is perceived as mainly a corporate technology vendor.

Susan Bostrom, chief marketing officer of Cisco, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily yesterday that Cisco needs to refashion itself as a more consumer-oriented company by changing the way consumers communicate with each other.

"If you look back to 1990s, it's really about getting connected," she said. "But now it's about the power of end-users. We need to create human networks." 

Cisco has been on a buying spree, acquiring a number of companies making consumer electronics devices including set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta for $6.9 billion.

Cisco now hopes gear such as set-top boxes, wireless networked DVD players and video services could help it woo average consumers. "Now the work-life environment is much blurred," Bostrom said.

The consumer-oriented approach would help Cisco tap into China's booming consumer electronics market, the world's second-largest, second only to the United States, according to the Development Research Center of the State Council.

US researcher IDC forecast the market would hit $15 billion by 2008.

Cracking the consumer market will be a tough challenge for Cisco as its brand awareness among average consumers remains low.

The firm is now launching a global marketing campaign to promote its brand in the consumer space, which industry observers estimate will cost more than $100 million.

Part of that would be poured into China. Cisco has already conducted some interactive campaigns in some Chinese digital communities.

The campaign, with a theme of "Welcome to the Human Network", is aimed at rebranding Cisco and making networks more relevant to people, according to Bostrom.

"We will make network capacities more visible to average consumers."

The popularity of Cisco's Linksys-branded wireless routers in Chinese households might give Cisco a leg-up.

The much-hyped Wi-Fi networks have been slow in catching on in China's public spots unlike Western countries.

But they are popular in Chinese households as many are using wireless routers, with Linksys being one of the preferred brands, to set up home networks to link computers and other devices.

Linksys, a division of Cisco, mainly serves consumers and SOHO (small office/home office) users.

(China Daily June 29, 2007)