It will be some time before Cisco faces the kind of erosion that IBM and Xerox endured, but the process is starting. Huge Market Linux Wizardry is going after an easy part of the market where Cisco doesn t compete very aggressively. The target market is small businesses and home offices, a very rapidly growing segment that so far is not well connected. Even in North America, only about half the small businesses were on line, according to recent surveys. Of those on line, many are still using dial-up modems.
Routers offer enormous advantages.
A number of computers can access the Internet through one telephone line using a router, whereas each computer would require a separate line otherwise. Telechoice, a communications consulting firm, estimates that the number of DSL connections will increase almost 10-fold over three years. Almost anyone with a DSL connection could probably be more productive and save communication costs with a router. Users of cable connections can also employ routers. The thing that has stopped routers from being more widely used by small businesses, other than unfamiliarity, is that they have been difficult to set up and use.