Belkin
Encyclopedia
Belkin International, Inc., is a Californian manufacturer of computer hardware
that specializes in connectivity devices, headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles
, California
. Belkin sells in both the consumer and the commercial business-to-business
(B2B) market, with various product lines including routers, iPod
and iPhone
accessories, mobile computing accessories, surge protector
s, switches, hubs (USB
and computer network
), cable
s, KVM switch
es, racks and enclosures, and other peripherals.
, California
, by Founder and Chairman Chet Pipkin.
magazine's list of 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States. Belkin, previously headquartered in Compton, California
, moved 18 miles (29 km) to new state of the art
corporate headquarters in Playa Vista in February 2010. Belkin also has major offices across the globe, such as in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Brazil, China, India, France and Australia.
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 a highly inappropriate action on their part, but later relented and issued a firmware update deleting this functionality from the product.
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. 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".
For 2007, Belkin was awarded iLounge
's Accessory Maker of the Year Award and its TuneFM was awarded iLounge's FM Transmitter of the Year Award.
Belkin's TuneBaseFM was awarded iLounge's Car Accessory of the Year Award 2008.
to fight breast cancer through its pink ribbon iPod cases that have helped raise $350,000 for the organization. In 2007, Belkin made a holiday donation to the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative. In late 2009, Belkin became a partner of the World Resources Institute. Belkin is also one of 60 corporations to begin measuring the greenhouse gas emissions of their products and supply chains via WRI's Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative.
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
that specializes in connectivity devices, headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Belkin sells in both the consumer and the commercial business-to-business
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
(B2B) market, with various product lines including routers, iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
and iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
accessories, mobile computing accessories, surge protector
Surge protector
A surge protector is an appliance designed to protect electrical devices from voltage spikes. A surge protector attempts to limit the voltage supplied to an electric device by either blocking or by shorting to ground any unwanted voltages above a safe threshold...
s, switches, hubs (USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
and computer network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
), cable
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
s, KVM switch
KVM switch
A KVM switch is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from a single keyboard, video monitor and mouse. Although multiple computers are connected to the KVM, typically a smaller number of computers can be controlled at any given time...
es, racks and enclosures, and other peripherals.
History
The company was founded in 1983 in HawthorneHawthorne, California
Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. The city at the 2010 census had a population of 84,293, up from 84,112 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, by Founder and Chairman Chet Pipkin.
The company
It has twice made the Inc.Inc. (magazine)
Inc. magazine, founded in 1979 and based in New York City, is a monthly publication focused on growing companies. The magazine publishes an annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., the "Inc...
magazine's list of 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States. Belkin, previously headquartered in Compton, California
Compton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city of Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city to incorporate. The city is considered part of the South side by residents of Los...
, moved 18 miles (29 km) to new state of the art
State of the art
The state of the art is the highest level of development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field, achieved at a particular time. It also refers to the level of development reached at any particular time as a result of the latest methodologies employed.- Origin :The earliest use of the term...
corporate headquarters in Playa Vista in February 2010. Belkin also has major offices across the globe, such as in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Brazil, China, India, France and Australia.
Product range
- Networking: routers
- iPhone, iPad, and iPod accessories: cases, FM transmitterFM transmitterFM transmitter may refer to:* A transmitter sending out a frequency modulated signal* An personal FM transmitter, a very short range device to enable the listening of music from a music device through the speakers of a regular FM radio....
s, chargers - Energy-saving accessories for the home
- Notebook and netbookNetbookNetbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.At their inception in late 2007 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features , featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing...
accessories: cases, cushions, cooling pads, power adapters - Data center accessories: racks and enclosures, KVM switches
- Surge protectors
- USB hubs and other connectivity peripherals, like the Easy Transfer CableEasy Transfer CableThe Easy Transfer Cable is a USB 2.0 device which is used to connect two computers together. The connectors are both USB-A male connectors to connect to each PC, but the cable also has a small box in the middle which contains the needed electronics and chipset to allow the two connected computers...
- Copper and Fiber Optic Cables
Criticism
In 2003, Belkin released a home use wireless router which would occasionally replace users' HTTPHypertext Transfer Protocol
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web....
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
Man-in-the-middle attack
In cryptography, the man-in-the-middle attack , bucket-brigade attack, or sometimes Janus attack, is a form of active eavesdropping in which the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them, making them believe that they are talking directly to each other...
or a form of session hijacking
Session hijacking
In computer science, session hijacking is the exploitation of a valid computer session—sometimes also called a session key—to gain unauthorized access to information or services in a computer system. In particular, it is used to refer to the theft of a magic cookie used to authenticate a user to a...
. Belkin initially treated this as a public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
problem rather than a highly inappropriate action on their part, but later relented and issued a firmware update deleting this functionality from the product.
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. On January 19, 2009, gizmodo.com
Gizmodo
Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....
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".
Awards
Belkin was in the "Inner City Top 100" list for six consecutive years and the Los Angeles Business Journals "Fastest Growing Private Companies" list for five years.For 2007, Belkin was awarded iLounge
ILounge
iLounge is an independent website covering all things related to Apple's iPod, iPhone, iPad and the related iTunes software. Founded by Dennis Lloyd in the days after Apple released their first generation iPod on October 23, 2001, iLounge is a popular source of iPod, iPhone and iPad information,...
's Accessory Maker of the Year Award and its TuneFM was awarded iLounge's FM Transmitter of the Year Award.
Belkin's TuneBaseFM was awarded iLounge's Car Accessory of the Year Award 2008.
- CES Innovations Awards:
- 2009 "Best of" in Multi-Room Audio/Video Category: FlyWire
- 2008 "Best of" in Portable Media Accessories Category: TuneStudio
- 2006 "Best of" in Video Category: Nostromo n52
- IDSA Design Awards Ranking – Belkin ranked in top list of corporations
- 2010 IDEA Award in Packaging & Graphics category: SILVER - Belkin Conserve Surge with Timer
- 2010 IDEA Award Commercial & Industrial Products category: BRONZE - Belkin Conserve Surge with Timer
- 2009 IDEA Award: BRONZE – Belkin Powerline AV+
- 2002 IDEA / BusinessWeek Award: GOLD – Belkin OmniView SoHo Series KVM
- Multiple iF Design Awards; in 2009, Belkin placed in the Top 50 of all company rankings for the number of IF awards won.
- 2008 TuneStudio and SportCommand
- 2007 Clamp-On Surge Protector, Compact Surge Protector, Conceal Surge Protector, Flip KVM
- 2006 TuneBase and TuneBaseFM, MediaPilot
- 2005 USB 7-Port Hub, PureAV Home Theater Power Consoles, PureAV Home Theater Power Conditioner
- 2003 USB Media Reader Writer
- 2005 Business 2.0 Bottom Line Design Awards – Belkin PureAV Power Console
Community work
Belkin is involved in the local Compton community through the ASAP (Advanced Surveillance and Protection Plan) program with the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Everybody Wins reading program. Belkin supports Susan G. Komen for the CureSusan G. Komen for the Cure
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, formerly known as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, often referred to as simply Komen, is the most widely known, largest and best-funded breast cancer organization in the US....
to fight breast cancer through its pink ribbon iPod cases that have helped raise $350,000 for the organization. In 2007, Belkin made a holiday donation to the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative. In late 2009, Belkin became a partner of the World Resources Institute. Belkin is also one of 60 corporations to begin measuring the greenhouse gas emissions of their products and supply chains via WRI's Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative.