Deliver Your News to the World

NETGEAR® Connects the World with Innovative Home and Small Business Networking Solutions at CeBIT 2006 in Hannover, Germany


WEBWIRE

Showcasing Advances in Wireless and Powerline Networking including 802.11n Draft Specification Wireless and 200 Mbps Powerline HD Technologies, Digital Entertainment Networking, Internet Telephony including Upcoming Skype™ WiFi Phone, and ProSafe™ Business-Class Networking Solutions

HANNOVER, GERMANY — March 9, 2006 — NETGEAR®, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically advanced, branded networking products, is exhibiting its latest networking solutions for the home and small to medium-sized business at this year’s CeBIT – the world’s largest trade fair. NETGEAR will display solutions for the ultimate digital home and small office, including wireless networking, Powerline networking, entertainment networking, Internet telephony and ProSafe™ business-class networking solutions. The company will also preview products to be released later in 2006, such as its design for 802.11n draft-compliant wireless networking products, 200 Mbps Powerline HD technology, and NETGEAR’s Skype™ WiFi Phone. NETGEAR products are on display in Hall 13, Stand C58 of the Hannover Exhibition Hall in Hannover, Germany through March 15th.

“NETGEAR is committed to providing its customers around the world with high-quality, high-performance, yet affordable networking and Internet connectivity solutions,” said Patrick Lo, chairman and chief executive officer of NETGEAR. “With its theme of ‘Digital Solutions for Work and Life,’ CeBIT is the perfect venue for us to connect with our consumer and small business customers. We’re presenting them with our wide range of networking options for any kind of networking setup, from high speed wireless and Powerline for the home, to digital media adapters for the living room, to WiFi mobile phones for the cost-conscious person on the go, and even Stackable Smart Switches for growing SMB and mid-market companies.”

Home and Digital Entertainment Networking
At the show, NETGEAR will debut the new design and form factor for its 802.11n draft specification line of wireless networking products. Scheduled to be launched in the first half of 2006, NETGEAR’s 802.11n draft specification products will be specially constructed to optimize for maximum stability, speed, range, and security extending data rates up to 600 Mbps using spatial multiplexing MIMO technology. NETGEAR’s new products based on 802.11n draft specification will surpass the performance of 802.11g, the current interoperable standard, will support wirelessly a variety of applications requiring high-quality and advanced data throughput speeds, such as high-definition video streaming and network storage, and will deliver more stable connections at greater range with higher degrees of security including AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). By actively collaborating with leading wireless networking chipset suppliers and working as a member of both the IEEE and WiFi Alliance, NETGEAR is promoting the industry need for multi-vendor interoperability at the new higher speeds and for maintaining reliable backward-compatibility with existing wireless products.

NETGEAR will also show whole-home wireless networking with its next-generation RangeMax™ 240 family of wireless networking products. RangeMax 240 extends NETGEAR’s #1 selling MIMO-G RangeMax wireless product line, and is the first wireless networking solution capable of delivering data throughput of up to 100 Mbps, comparable to that of 10/100 Fast Ethernet wired networks. RangeMax 240 eliminates dead spots in home or office environments and provides wireless speeds fast enough to support simultaneous intensive bandwidth applications such as streaming high-definition video and audio, online gaming, backup of laptop files to NETGEAR’s Storage Central over WiFi, and Internet telephony. RangeMax 240 also incorporates NETGEAR’s “Touchless” WiFi Security and NETGEAR’s popular Smart Wizard® Installation Assistant and Assisted Firmware Update to ensure easy installation, security setup, and management.

NETGEAR will demonstrate its stylish next-generation, high-speed Powerline products for seamless entertainment networking, including its next-generation 200 Mbps Powerline HD technology from Design of Systems on Silicon (DS2). Shipping in the summer, this technology will make it possible for consumers to have a high-quality, high-performance and affordable connection to the home network and broadband Internet anywhere in the home without the need to run any cabling between rooms. By turning any electrical outlet into a high-speed network connection, at data rates of up to 200 Mbps and enabled for video Quality of Service (QoS), this technology makes it possible for consumers to seamlessly stream multiple high-definition videos throughout the entire home.

As another part of the ultimate digital home, NETGEAR is also showcasing its popular network data storage device, Storage Central (SC101). Versatile enough to accommodate any home or small office user’s storage needs, Storage Central offers users an affordable, mirrored, expandable and easily shared network storage solution for protecting and sharing large volumes of valuable data and content (such as music, photos, videos, and office documents) wired or wirelessly over the network. Consumers have the option of choosing two IDE disk drives of any size in their first unit, as well as the capability to link multiple Storage Central units together for unlimited storage capacity. Included with the purchase of Storage Central is the award-winning and simple-to-use SmartSync Pro backup and recovery software, which provides users with a reliable file backup and synchronization solution.

The CeBIT booth will also highlight other NETGEAR-branded products for the digital living room, as well as upcoming NETGEAR entertainment devices for connecting and streaming multimedia content both wirelessly and through powerline connections. NETGEAR will demonstrate how people can stream digital movies from the computer or the Internet to the TV, view digital photos on the TV, play MP3s on the home stereo, play video games over the Internet, and enjoy unlimited, worldwide Internet radio, all while sharing the home network among multiple users.

Internet Telephony
NETGEAR will also exhibit wireless routers that enable Voice over IP (VoIP) broadband phone service, and will demonstrate upcoming products for Internet telephony, including the much-anticipated NETGEAR Skype WiFi phone. Unveiled earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi phone – the world’s first Skype wireless mobile telephone – will make mobile Internet telephony a reality for Skype users. Unlike other devices that must connect with a computer, NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi phone will work wherever a consumer is connected to a wireless access point that does not require browser-based authentication. With NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi phone, users can make free calls to Skype users anywhere in the world and to non-Skype users with their prepaid SkypeOut and SkypeIn services at a small fee. Consumers will also be able to access their Skype Voicemail with this device.

Business-Class Networking Solutions
NETGEAR delivers everything that a growing business demands for its network infrastructure — performance, versatility, manageability, and affordability. At CeBIT, the company will demonstrate its full array of networking solutions for small and medium-sized businesses with its ProSafe line of business products for corporate, branch, and remote offices.

As an extension of the company’s market-leading suite of affordable, feature-rich ProSafe Smart Switches, NETGEAR is also showcasing the industry’s first Stackable Smart Switches – the ProSafe 24 Port 10/100 Stackable Smart Switch + 4 Gigabit Ports (FS728TS), the ProSafe 48 Port 10/100 Stackable Smart Switch + 4 Gigabit Ports (FS752TS), and the ProSafe 48 Port 10/100 Stackable Smart Switch + 4 Gigabit Ports with Power over Ethernet (FS752TPS).

NETGEAR’s ProSafe Stackable Smart Switches deliver flexibility and scalability through a 4 Gbps, dual-ring, resilient stacking architecture that provides the ability to mix and match the family of switches to stack up to 192 10/100 ports managed through a single GUI. In addition to the key management features available on the well-known NETGEAR ProSafe Smart Switches, such as trunking, VLANs, and Layer 2 prioritization, these new Stackable Smart Switches offer more powerful features such as 802.1x port-based security, full SNMP support, and Layer 3 prioritization to support the needs of larger growing SMB and mid-market companies. For customers that would otherwise be forced to purchase fully managed Layer 2 stackable switches, these new Smart Switches offer the right mix of performance, features, and value.

NETGEAR is also showcasing the ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 8 (FVG318). The FVG318 five-in-one wireless and wired VPN solution offers wired and wireless connectivity and business-class protection for small office and remote/branch office users. It combines five functions in a single, compact package – Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, 802.11g wireless access point, IPSec Virtual Private Network (VPN) appliance, NAT router, and eight-port Fast Ethernet switch. Powerful and standards-based, it delivers both 10 and 100 Mbps connections for wired devices, plus 802.11b/g devices at speeds up to 108 Mbps. This comprehensive, affordable solution offers businesses high-performance features in a space-saving, easy-to-use design.

About NETGEAR®, Inc.
NETGEAR® (Nasdaq: NTGR) designs technologically advanced, branded networking products that address the specific needs of small and medium business and home users. The Company’s product offerings enable users to share Internet access, peripherals, files, digital multimedia content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices. NETGEAR is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.netgear.com or call (408) 907-8000.

© 2006 NETGEAR, Inc. NETGEAR®, the NETGEAR logo, ProSafe, RangeMax, and Smart Wizard are trademarks or registered trademarks of NETGEAR, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Information is subject to change without notice. All rights reserved.

NOTE: References to signal rates indicate maximum achievable rates under ideal operating conditions. Actual data throughput will vary. Network conditions and environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, and network overhead, lower actual data throughput.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for NETGEAR, Inc.:
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Specifically, statements concerning NETGEAR’s planned new product introductions and their expected performance characteristics, specifications, market acceptance, market growth, specific uses, user feedback and market position are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the following: the ability of NETGEAR to successfully and timely develop and market its planned new products, the actual price, performance and ease of use of NETGEAR’s products may not meet the price, performance and ease of use requirements of end-users; the performance of NETGEAR’s products may be adversely affected by real world operating conditions; the impact and pricing of competing products; and the introduction of alternative technological solutions. Further information on potential risk factors that could affect NETGEAR and its business are detailed in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties listed in the section entitled “Risk Factors Affecting Future Results,” pages 19 through 28, in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 3, 2005, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2005. NETGEAR undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.



WebWireID10803





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.