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D-Link Systems Inc. wants to sell more to businesses that have tighter purse strings these days.

The Fountain Valley-based maker of networking gear, part of Taiwan’s D-Link Corp., is pitching its routers and other products as a cheaper way for budget-conscious businesses to expand their networks.

The company’s selling point: We’re cheaper than Cisco.

D-Link’s less expensive prices could appeal to small and midsize companies that have seen their businesses slow this year, crimping their ability to spend on technology.

They also appeal to resellers-tech shops that sell and install computer gear at businesses-which keep more of the profits on D-Link sales.

Targeting businesses is a bit of a switch for D-Link, which is better known for selling to consumers and home-based businesses.

“We have two different models we are running now, two different faces,” Chief Executive Steven Joe said. “D-Link is well known in the consumer sector, which we started here in Fountain Valley a dozen years ago. But we’ve actually been involved hi the business sector for 22 years.”

D-Link’s Taiwanese parent got its start selling to businesses through resellers, according to Joe.

The Business Journal estimates D-Link’s local operation, which has some 300 workers, sees about $1 billion in sales a year.

The bulk of D-Link’s U.S. revenue comes from switches, routers, modems and network adapter cards sold at electronics stores and by online retailers.

Products aimed more squarely at businesses — network switches, extra data storage and security cameras — are a small, growing part of D-Link’s sales, Joe said.

The company’s main competitor for consumers is Jjvine-based Cisco-Linksys LLC, an independently run division of Cisco Systems Inc. that sells through electronics retailers.

For sales to smaller businesses, D-Link also competes with Linksys but more so with Cisco itself, as well as with Marlborough, Mass.-based 3Com Corp.

“As for the technology, we’ve been working on it to meet business…

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