NETGEAR Showcases Advances in Digital Entertainment Networking, Voice Solutions, Extended Wireless Range, and Storage Centers at CES 2005 in Las Vegas

NETGEAR Showcases Advances in Digital Entertainment Networking, Voice Solutions, Extended Wireless Range, and Storage Centers at CES 2005 in Las Vegas

'Lifestyle Settings' Provide Opportunity to Interact With NETGEAR's Latest Innovations at Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Booth #38512

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NETGEAR(R) Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically advanced, branded networking products, will exhibit its latest solutions aimed at the home and small business at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which runs January 6th to 9th. Located at Booth #35812 in the Upper Level of the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall, the company will showcase its advances in digital entertainment networking, Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networking, extended range for wireless networks, and storage centers. In addition, NETGEAR will be demonstrating its ProSafe(TM) line of business-class solutions including business wireless, security and switch products.

"NETGEAR is always excited to present at CES, and 2005 is no exception," said Patrick Lo, Chairman and CEO of NETGEAR. "With VoIP coming into the mainstream and media adapters establishing a foothold in the average home entertainment system, this is the year that digital connectivity really takes off. NETGEAR's products are far ahead of the pack when it comes to ease of use, features, performance, and design, and CES provides us an opportunity to display our innovations in appropriate lifestyle settings."

Divided into eight "rooms", the NETGEAR booth will display the company's innovative products in a variety of different settings, including the CES Innovations Award honoree -- the Double-108 Mbps Wireless Firewall Router (WGU624) -- in the "home office," and Laptop Magazine's Editor's Choice -- the Wireless Digital Music Player (MP101) -- in the "teen's room." NETGEAR will also show its new voice router developed to work with AT&T's CallVantage(SM) Service in the VoIP demo room, as well as showcase its entire line of ProSafe business-class wireless products in the "remote" office. Additional NETGEAR products on display in the general booth will include the 54 Mbps Cable/DSL Wireless Travel Router (WGR101), another CES Innovation Award honoree, and the 54 Mbps Universal Wireless Range Extender Kit (WGXB102), for those users that seek to enhance their existing wireless networking experience with a combined powerline and 802.11g wireless solution.

What's in Store for 2005

NETGEAR will offer previews of several new cutting-edge consumer electronics at its booth, including networked storage devices with unparalleled ease-of-use; intelligent extended-range solutions based on MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) smart antenna technology for larger and bandwidth-demanding wireless home networks. "Innovation has always been, and will continue to be, NETGEAR's core competency," said Vivek Pathela, Senior Director of Product Management and Marketing for Consumer & Residential Products. "We've blazed the path in home networking and we've set new standards in connecting users with applications. Now we're leveraging our track record of successes toward creating great new products in the consumer electronics space. It's no longer just enough to have everybody connecting; it's got to be everybody connecting, everywhere, with everything."

Introducing NETGEAR's Voice-over-IP Solution

NETGEAR will offer a preview of its industry-leading solutions for the rapidly growing VoIP market, including a wireless router compatible with AT&T CallVantage(SM) Service, the nationwide carrier's broadband phone service. This combination enables customers to benefit from all of the traditional performance and ease-of-use advantages of a NETGEAR wireless router, together with the compelling cost savings and innovative features of the AT&T CallVantage Service, including some features that are not currently available with traditional voice services.

Increasing the Range of the Wireless Network

NETGEAR will demonstrate RangeMax(TM) technology, which is designed to boost wireless range in home networks and eliminate dead spots, vastly improving support for bandwidth-intensive applications such as streaming audio and video, playing online games and transferring large data files.

RangeMax(TM) technology incorporates seven smart MIMO antennas to deliver 127 unique antenna patterns to adapt "on the fly" to the network environment by adjusting to RF interference, locations of clients, and physical barriers, resulting in extraordinary range and consistent high-speed data transfer speeds throughout the home. RangeMax automatically senses the network environment and dynamically adjusts its antenna configurations to optimize the signal to eliminate dead spots and provide better performance than available with any other competing wireless networking technologies in existence today. By reducing throughput variance caused by signal fade and interference, RangeMax delivers a consistent stream of data, eliminating video freezing and jittering, and connection drops. The RangeMax wireless routers from NETGEAR will even enhance significantly the range and speed for wireless clients that do not carry the RangeMax circuitries.

Additionally, NETGEAR will be showing its Double-108 Mbps wireless product family, which comprises the Double-108 Mbps Wireless Firewall Router (WGU624), the Double-108 Mbps Wireless PC Card (WG511U), and the Double-108 Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter (WG111U). With a Double-108 Mbps network, users can enjoy two simultaneous wireless streams up to 108 Mbps, dual-band 802.11a/b/g access, enabling optimal speeds and interference robustness for bandwidth-intensive applications like video streaming that require priority network access as well as large file downloads that will not slow down other users' access to the network. The Double-108 Mbps Wireless Firewall Router enables notebooks and desktops to access the wireless network at twice the distance of traditional 802.11g routers, and offers coverage in areas in the home where signals previously could not reach.

Furthering the Digital Entertainment Network

For the home entertainment buff, NETGEAR will be exhibiting its new Wireless Digital Media Player (MP115) and Wireless Digital Music Player (MP101) in the family room and teen's room, respectively. Building upon the success of the popular Wireless Digital Music Player, NETGEAR's new Wireless Digital Media Player enables users to route video files from the PC to the TV -- as well as music files and Internet radio streams to the stereo -- over any 802.11g, 802.11b or wired network. And with support for legacy audio/video devices, the Wireless Digital Media Player (MP115) and Wireless Digital Music Player (MP101) seamlessly integrate into any home entertainment system without special cables or expensive adapters, delivering upon NETGEAR's commitment of providing high-quality digital entertainment solutions for enthusiasts and novices alike.

Storage Central

For those looking to share and stream digital entertainment and other files anywhere on the network, NETGEAR's new network storage line provides a low cost, high performance network data storage solution. Customers will now be able to easily share disk drives and access them from any networked device. For the same price of a standard external hard drive, home consumers will now be able to buy a centralized data storage solution that will stream multiple high definition films, music and access personal files simultaneously over wired and wireless networks.

The storage solution accommodates up to two standard IDE hard drives of any size. Based on current drive capacities on the market today, this device enables users to attach up to 400 gigabytes of storage to their home networks, and can be continually upgraded to larger drives as they become available. It comes with an easy to use graphical user interface that enables quick and simple configuration, as well as the opportunity to do more sophisticated customization for experienced users. Hard drives can be subdivided into multiple drives for easy segmentation and storage of data, while data mirroring is accomplished through a simple utility to ensure the safe back-up of information.

Powering Connectivity In the Enterprise

At CES, NETGEAR will also display its suite of ProSafe business-class wireless products, including the new NETGEAR ProSafe 8 Port 10/100 Desktop Switch with 4 Port Power-Over-Ethernet (PoE) (FS108P) and NETGEAR ProSafe 802.11g Wireless Access Point (WG102), a PoE-enabled IEEE 802.11g-compliant access point supporting NETGEAR 108 Mbps mode. When deployed together in a growing small business environment, these ProSafe products with PoE deliver a compact and affordable wireless LAN solution that eliminates the need to place wireless access points near power outlets, or to pay to install new power outlets to ensure optimum placement of the wireless connection. Along with other ProSafe Firewalls, ProSafe Fast Ethernet Switches, Gigabit Managed Switches and Gigabit Smart Switches, NETGEAR will also demonstrate a business-class wireless access point capable of supporting both 802.11a and 802.11g networks, enabling greater compatibility with wireless devices on the market today.

Meet the People Behind the Vision

NETGEAR's executives will participate on two different conference panels at CES 2005. Patrick Lo will be featured in "Creating the Perfect Home Network," in the South Hall at noon on Thursday, January 6th. Vivek Pathela will be speaking on "Making the Network Work" at the Connections session sponsored by Parks Associates, at 3:00 p.m. on January 6th, also in the South Hall.

About NETGEAR(R), Inc.

NETGEAR(R) designs technologically advanced, branded networking products that address the specific needs of small and medium business and home users. The Company's suite of over 100 products enables 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.

NOTE: NETGEAR, the NETGEAR logo, ProSafe, and RangeMax 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.

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 the expected performance characteristics, specifications, market acceptance, market growth, specific uses, user feedback and market position of NETGEAR and its products and technology 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 actual price, performance and ease of use of NETGEAR's products may not met the price, performance and ease of use requirements of customers, the performance of NETGEAR's products may be adversely affected by real world conditions, there is no assurance that any products previewed by NETGEAR for 2005 will be released for general availability, the ability of NETGEAR to market and sell its products and technology, 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 15 through 22, in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 3, 2004, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 17, 2004. 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.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030730/NETGEARLOGO )

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AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: NETGEAR, Inc.

CONTACT: Doug Hagan, Director, Corporate Marketing of NETGEAR, Inc.,
+1-408-907-8053, or doug.hagan@netgear.com; or Lisa Hawes, Account Supervisor
of Sterling Communications, +1-408-395-5500, ext. 227, or
lhawes@sterlingpr.com, for NETGEAR

Web site: http://www.netgear.com/


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