New NETGEAR 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router Lauded by Industry

Business Wire, Jan 9, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

2003 International CES

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2003

In Its First Few Weeks NETGEAR MR814 Wireless Router Already

Wins Awards From CNET, ZDNet, Computer Shopper Magazine, and CES

NETGEAR, Inc., a worldwide provider of easy-to-use, high performance networking products, today announced that the NETGEAR 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router (MR814), launched just last month at Comdex, has already garnered widespread industry attention. In the span of only a few weeks, the secure and stylish 4-port 2.4 GHz wireless router garnered praise from leading experts by earning CNET and ZDNet's Editors' Choice awards, Computer Shopper Magazine's Best 100 Products of 2002 award, and an International CES Innovation award.

"Our team has taken great pains to create a wireless router that would provide the home user with an easy-to-use, secure, and affordable wireless networking solution to complement the rest of our award winning Platinum Family of home networking solutions," said Patrick Lo, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR. "Receiving multiple industry honors for our new 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router is testament to NETGEAR's success in enabling home users to share broadband Internet access and multimedia entertainment across multiple PCs and Internet-enabled devices."

This latest addition to the NETGEAR Platinum Family of easy-to-use home networking products received accolades for its extensive selection of help utilities and automated configuration tools, including the unique NETGEAR Smart Set-up Wizard and animated Installation Assistant.

CNET and ZDNet awarded the NETGEAR 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router with Editors' Choice Awards, citing its extreme affordability and ease of use, particularly helpful for the novice user. The Editors' Choice award signifies a product that is the best of breed in its category. The winning products must change the competitive landscape of their markets, whether through innovative features, exceptional value for the price, remarkable ease of use, or a demonstrable boost to users' productivity.

The complete review, which appeared in November 2002, can be found online at: http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/review/0,12070,562553,00.html

The NETGEAR 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router then went on to be named "Best Wireless Router" for the year in CNET's listing of Top 100 Products of 2002. The company actually earned two awards in this year's list with NETGEAR's stylish 4-Port Cable/DSL Web Safe Router with 10/100 Mbps Switch (RP614) earning the number one spot for "Best Gateway for Sharing Broadband." The editors praised its extensive selection of wizards, help utilities and automated configuration tools as well as its performance and affordability.

In addition, NETGEAR received from Computer Shopper top honors in its "Best Wireless Gateway" category and was selected as one of the Best 100 Products of 2002. This recognition appeared in Computer Shopper's 2002 annual Editors' Awards issue published in November 2002.

Not to be left out, on December 16, Consumer Electronics Show (CES) judges voiced their own commendation for the NETGEAR 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router. NETGEAR was honored with an Innovations award when the product was selected as a top product in the Home Data Networking category. The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) judged Innovations 2003 entries, as a part of their endorsing and acting as advisors to the Design & Engineering Showcase. Product evaluations were based on value to user, aesthetics, and contributions to the quality of life as well as the product's innovative qualities.

The NETGEAR 802.11b Cable/DSL Wireless Router offers the unique NETGEAR Smart Set-up Wizard and Installation Assistant, which automatically detects the user's ISP connection type and simplify installation. In addition, it comes standard with a powerful detachable 5 dBi antenna giving users the flexibility to attach higher gain antennas with different characteristics to provide optimal coverage in unique networking environments. NETGEAR's MR814 boasts a feature set that includes port-range forwarding, URL content filtering and e-mail alerts for parental control, and exposed host (DMZ).

Along with a Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall, the MR814 features 40/64 and 128-bit encryption, and supports VPN pass-through for access to security-conscious remote sites. Since wireless security is a growing concern, NETGEAR offers the ability to restrict access to specific wireless address (based on the unique Ethernet MAC address). The MR814 is the only home router on the market that ships complete with a full, 1-year subscription to personal firewall software to provide privacy protection and password management for up to 8 PCs.

About NETGEAR Inc.

NETGEAR provides branded, easy-to-use, reliable and technologically advanced networking solutions for homes and small businesses. Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, Calif., NETGEAR designs and develops products that enable home and small business users to share Internet access, peripherals, digital content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices. NETGEAR primarily markets and sells its products through distributors based in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region to a network of resellers, including more than 4,500 retail stores, mail order catalogs and online retailers. For more information visit the company's Web site at www.netgear.com or call (408.907.8000).