Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Cisco Systems Inc., the biggest maker of computer-networking equipment, plans to sell cable set-top boxes that also connect home computers to the Web, focusing on consumers to counter slowing growth in corporate orders.

The box from Cisco's Scientific-Atlanta unit will use technology from its Linksys home routers. The product lets users pause a movie in one room and watch it in another or view Web videos on TV, Vice President Dave Davies said yesterday in an interview from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The introduction comes two months after Cisco reported a drop in orders from car and financial companies amid tightening U.S. credit markets. Chief Executive Officer John Chambers has sought to rely less on corporate clients by bolstering the consumer business, buying companies such as Scientific-Atlanta Inc. and Kiss Technology, the maker of digital recording gear.

Cisco rose 41 cents to $26.54 at 10 a.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Before today, the shares had declined 8.2 percent in the past year.

The new box will go on sale in the second half of the year. Cisco unveiled two media products at CES, the world's biggest technology conference, to cut the number of devices consumers need. Today, Cisco offers cable boxes through Scientific-Atlanta, purchased two years ago for $6.9 billion.

Revenue from Cisco's advanced technologies unit, which includes Scientific-Atlanta, climbed 27 percent in the quarter ended Oct. 27, outpacing total sales growth of 17 percent. Sales to corporate customers such as banks have fallen to less than half of revenue, down from two-thirds in 2001.

Chambers, 58, is scheduled to give the keynote speech at a CES dinner tonight. The conference, which started in 1967, features products or presentations from 2,700 companies, along with speeches from CEOs of Yahoo! Inc., Comcast Corp. and General Motors Corp. Products unveiled at CES in past years include the camcorder and the CD player. About 140,000 people will attend the conference.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in Las Vegas at alevy5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 8, 2008 10:52 EST