Networking gear maker Cisco is taking some heat from the growing lineup of solutions released by competing vendors in its industry. IBM and NEC just introduced a new Open Flow-based solution that caters to a very wide audience, and Juniper has recently given its worldwide sales channel a major boost. Now, Cisco is firing back with a new product and a marketing campaign, which doesn’t focus on bashing the competition for a change.

The company announced the Linksys HomePlug AV Powerline series, a lineup of consumer adapters designed to bring connectivity to more isolated parts of a household – the basement, the garage and so forth.  The product can plug into any home wall socket and turn it into a hotspot without any reconfiguration, and the connection can be sustained even with other electronics around. Simplicity is a big emphasis with Powerline from more aspects than one, including the very abstract installation process.

“Cisco’s Linksys products set the standard for great home networking experiences with their ease of use and outstanding performance,” said Scott Kabat, director of marketing, Cisco Home Networking business unit. “Our new Powerline products deliver on this promise. Just plug them in, and they start working.”

The new solutions are available in two different packs: The Linksys Powerline AV 1-Port Network Adapter Kit, which contains two 1-port powerline adapters, and the AV 4-Port Network Adapter Kit. The latter comes with four of those adapters, as well as one with 4 ports.  The Linksys Powerline AV 1-Port Wireless Extender is an add-on product that’s available separately.

Moving on to Cisco’s marketing plan, the company has adopted a different approach. The key highlight is a series of case studies emphasizing clients’ use of Cisco tech and the improvement they’ve seen, as SiliconBeat reported.