Belkin Corporation is a global manufacturer of computer hardware which specializes in connectivity devices. Belkin sells primarily in the consumer and home user market, but they also make switches, hubs (USB and computer network), cables, power supplies, and other peripherals. The company was founded in 1983 in Hawthorne, California by current President Chet Pipkin, and it has twice made the Inc. Magazine list of 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States. At present, Belkin is headquartered in Compton, California. It is the largest and most well-known employer in that city.
Belkin is a large provider of wireless LAN equipment. In January 2005, the company launched one of the first MIMO routers under the name pre-N to some acclaim *.
In 2003 Belkin released a home-use wireless router which would occasionally replace user's HTTP requests with an advertisement page for Belkin products. This addition to the router's firmware by Belkin promoted its Internet filtering software. Belkin received some criticism for this (*" target="_blank" >*) and has since removed this feature from its products.
Networking companies | Computer hardware companies | Companies based in Los Angeles County