NETGEAR, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically advanced, branded networking solutions, today announced the expansion of its industry-leading family of ProSafe Gigabit Smart Switches with the introduction of three advanced Smart Switches.

Designed to deliver robust security and enhanced traffic management and availability to growing networks in small and medium businesses, the ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Smart Switches with Static Routing (GS724TR and GS748TR) and 24-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with Advanced Features (GS724AT) are feature-rich, affordable, reliable, and easy-to-manage alternatives to fully-managed switches.

NETGEAR's new ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches (GS724TR, GS748TR and GS724AT) add advanced capabilities to the growing family of ProSafe Gigabit SmartSwitches, which includes the ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Stackable SmartSwitches (GS724TS and GS748TS), ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Smart Switches with PoE (GS724TP and GS748TP), and ProSafe 8-Port Gigabit Smart Switch (GS108T). The new ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches, which are covered by NETGEAR's ProSafe Lifetime Warranty, deliver more robust security, higher quality of service (QoS) and high availability through an advanced feature set that includes Access Control Lists (ACL), 802.1x port authentication, rate limiting, IGMP snooping and Rapid Spanning Tree providing businesses with a scalable, reliable network that is geared for growth. NETGEAR's user-friendly Web-based ProSafe Control Center provides simple, yet comprehensive management through a streamlined interface that eases navigation, delivers basic and advanced views for different user types, and provides index and help functions.

Designed to ease congestion at the core of mid-sized business networks, the ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Smart Switches with Static Routing (GS724TR and GS748TR) are the first Smart Switches in the industry to provide static routing capability. By using static routing to offload inter-VLAN routing traffic from the core, businesses can deploy the GS724TR and GS748TR to optimize bandwidth efficiency by freeing up the router for WAN and security traffic. The GS724TR and GS748TR, which feature 24 or 48 10/100/1000 ports and two or four shared SFP ports, support 32 static routes to enable inter-VLAN routing, manage broadcast storms more effectively and deliver tighter security.

The NETGEAR ProSafe 24-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with Advanced Features (GS724AT) provides small and mid-sized companies with management capabilities at an affordable price, providing the features found in fully managed switches without the associated cost and complexity of a fully-managed solution. The GS724AT incorporates 24 10/100/1000 ports and four combination SFP ports for optional fiber connectivity enabling businesses to deploy essential as well as advanced business applications such as security, ERP, wireless, Voice over IP (VoIP), and more. This switch also provides advanced features such as Access Control Lists (ACL) for increased security, Layer 3 based QoS for enhanced traffic prioritization, Auto Voice VLAN for 'Plug and Play' deployment of VoIP, and Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) for increased availability.

"Growing small and medium businesses are continually faced with the challenge of maintaining and growing scalable, reliable and affordable network infrastructures to support an increasing array of advanced applications such as ERP systems, wireless and converged communications systems." Security is a growing need with SMB customers, as is the need to prioritize applications. The addition of the Advanced Smart Switch products to our popular ProSafe Gigabit Smart Switch family provides small and mid-sized businesses with advanced, affordable and easy-to-manage alternatives to fully-managed switches. These advanced switches enable companies to gain better control and improve the efficiency of the network infrastructure while delivering the performance, functionality and value that have established our ProSafe Smart Switch line as an industry leader."

Atul Jain, Country Manager, India and SAARC, NETGEAR India, says, “India’s economic growth is well balanced on the growth of its Small and Medium enterprises. So in order to keep the momentum going, NETGEAR India is completely committed. We have tried to offer technology, which fit to their budget and adaptable to the changing business scenario taking care of ease of usage and security aspects pertaining to the networks. Therefore, the new line of ProSafe Smart Switches are products of great value to the large pool of SMEs in India and completely aligned to our commitment.”

About the New NETGEAR ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches

The NETGEAR ProSafe 24- and 48-Port Gigabit Smart Switches with Static Routing (GS724TR and GS748TR) and ProSafe 24-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with Advanced Features (GS724AT) provide advanced security, advanced quality of service, and "smart" management features to growing small and medium businesses. Scalable, flexible and reliable, the high-performance ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches support the full range of network applications and secure the network without the overhead and complexity of fully managed switches. Easily managed through an intuitive, web-based GUI, users can save time and resources while being able to gain more control over the network and support advanced applications.

The GS724TR and GS748TR are designed to provide effective bandwidth management for organizations that deploy VLANs. With the ability to support 32 static routes, companies can off-load inter-VLAN communication from the core router making the network run faster and enabling companies to deploy a less expensive router in the core of the network.

The GS724TR, GS748TR and GS724AT provide enhanced security to SMB networks through support for 802.1x authentication and ACL filtering to permit or deny traffic based upon MAC and/or IP addresses. An extensive set of QoS features includes 802.1p-based prioritization, Layer 3-based (DSCP, TOS) prioritization, Layer 4-based (TCP/UDP port numbers) prioritization, and rate-limiting. Finally, Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) provides increased availability.

The ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches are optimized for use with NETGEAR's ProSafe Network Management Software (NMS100), but can also be managed through an easy-to-use Web console that can be used to configure, monitor and troubleshoot the switches.The ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches are backed by a lifetime warranty and optional ProSupport Maintenance Packages. The GS724TR, GS748TR and GS724AT are immediately available via leading direct marketers, e-commerce sites and value added resellers at list prices of $925 USD, $1,665 USD and $575 USD, respectively.

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About NETGEAR, Inc.

NETGEAR (Nasdaq: NTGR - News) designs technologically advanced, branded networking solutions 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. As an ENERGY STAR(R) partner, NETGEAR offers products that prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the U.S. government. NETGEAR is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.netgear.com or call (408) 907-8000.

(C) 2008 NETGEAR, Inc. NETGEAR(R), the NETGEAR Logo, and ProSafe 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. Actual data throughput will vary from maximum signal rates stipulated. Network conditions and environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, and network overhead, lower actual data throughput.