Belkin

Belkin International, Inc., is an American manufacturer of consumer electronics that specializes in connectivity devices. Headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California,[2] it sells various consumer and commercial product lines, including routers, iPod and iPhone accessories, mobile computing accessories, surge protectors, network switches, hubs, (USB and computer network) cables, KVM switches, racks and enclosures, and other peripherals. Belkin International is the parent company for Belkin, Linksys and Wemo branded products and services, as well as the smart home water management company, Phyn.

This article is about the company. For the surname, see Belkin (surname). For the cycling team, see Belkin Pro Cycling Team.
Not to be confused with Belk.
Belkin International, Inc.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryConsumer electronics
FoundedApril 18, 1983 (1983-04-18)
HeadquartersPlaya Vista, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people
Chet Pipkin (Chairman, Founder, CEO)
Number of employees
1000+[1]
ParentFoxconn
Websitewww.belkin.com

History

Belkin was founded in 1983 in California, by Chet Pipkin. The company name is a combination of Pipkin and Steve Bellow's last name. Bellow and Pipkin's father helped manufacture computer cables when the company was operating from the garage of Pipkin's parents.[3][4][5]

In March 2013, Belkin acquired Cisco Systems' Home Networking Business Unit, including the Linksys brand and product line.[6][7] On March 26, 2018, a subsidiary of Foxconn, Foxconn Interconnect Technology, announced its intent to acquire Belkin for US$866 million.[8][9]

Sponsorship and community work

Between May 2013 and the end of the 2014 season, Belkin sponsored a Dutch professional cycling team, Belkin Pro Cycling Team. Belkin stepped in after the team formerly known as Rabobank lost their headline sponsor.

Belkin is involved in the local Compton community through the ASAP (Advanced Surveillance and Protection Plan) program with the LASD (LA County Sheriff’s Department) and the Everybody Wins reading program. Belkin supports Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fight breast cancer through its pink ribbon iPod cases that have helped raise $350,000 for the organization.[10] In 2007, Belkin made a holiday donation to the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative.[11]

Criticism

In 2003, Belkin released a home-use wireless router which would occasionally replace users' HTTP requests with an advertisement for Belkin's filtering software. Belkin received some intense criticism for this from technically literate customers and others who described it as a man-in-the-middle attack or a form of session hijacking. Belkin initially treated this as a public relations problem rather than an inappropriate action on their part, but later relented and issued a firmware update deleting this functionality from the product.[12][13][14][15][16]

In early 2009, a Belkin 'online sales representative' was discovered paying Amazon.com, Newegg and Buy.com users to manipulate reviews of a notoriously buggy Belkin router. Belkin's President, Mark Reynoso, responded to criticism, saying that the company does not engage in unethical practices, noting however that 'one of our employees' may have been responsible.[17][18][19] On January 19, 2009, gizmodo.com published a letter from an anonymous Belkin worker, where the employee claims that for years all workers were pressed upon to "do whatever is needed to get good product reviews and good press", which included "sending blog writers a device with custom firmware that hides known bugs", "faking hardware logo certifications", as well as "writing poor reviews of competitors products".[20][21][22]

References
  1. "About Belkin". Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  2. "Contact Us." Belkin. Retrieved on July 9, 2010.
  3. "Chet Pipkin". www.techonomy.com. TECHONOMY. Retrieved 26 June 2018. Chet Pipkin is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Belkin International based in Playa Vista
  4. "Wealthiest Angelenos: 29. CHET PIPKIN". www.labusinessjournal.com. LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL. August 28, 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2018. Wealthiest Angelenos: 29. CHET PIPKIN
  5. "Fastrack". Los Angeles Business Journal. 1997-03-17. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  6. "Linksys brand name survives as Belkin takes over from Cisco". PCWorld. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  7. "Belkin buys Linksys home router business from Cisco, giving it 30 percent of the market". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  8. Woodhouse, Alice. "Foxconn unit to buy Belkin International for $866m". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  9. Coldewey, Devin. "Foxconn buys peripheral maker Belkin for $866M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  10. "Belkin Accessorizes for a Good Cause". Popgadget. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  11. "Belkin Gifts OLPC in my Name - Thanks!". Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  12. "Help! my Belkin router is spamming me". The Register. 7 November 2003. Archived from the original on 28 July 2005. Retrieved 2005-08-02.
  13. "Belkin Routers Route Users to Censorware Ad". Slashdot. Retrieved 2005-08-02.
  14. "CastleCops – Web hijack riles Belkin router users". Archived from the original on 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 080205 castlecops.com
  15. "Web hijack riles Belkin router users". CNET News.com. November 10, 2003.
  16. "Web hijacking by router – a new method of advertisement by Belkin". Archived from the original on 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 080205 merit.edu
  17. "Belkin Amazon Rep Paying For Fake Online Reviews". Slashdot. 090117 slashdot.org
  18. "Exclusive: Belkin's Development Rep is Hiring People to Write Fake Positive Amazon Reviews". 090117 thedailybackground.com
  19. "Crunchgear: Belkin replies to Mechanical Turk shilling". www.crunchgear.com. January 18, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  20. Chen, Jason (19 June 2009). "Belkin Employee Sheds Light On Belkin's Supposedly Dirty Practices". Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  21. Berndtson, Chad (20 January 2009). "For Belkin, Are Fake Reviews For Real?". CRN Magazine. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  22. Weintraub, Seth (19 January 2009). "Belkin's response to the 'pay for good review' scandal is bad news". ComputerWorld. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
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