(Press Release) NETGEAR Inc. today announced the availability of its wireless local area networking (LAN) solution based on the IEEE 802.11a standard. NETGEAR is among the first to ship the latest chip design for its 802.11a products. NETGEAR's wireless LAN products offer features that enable homes and businesses, even those without network IT staff, to deploy and maintain secure wireless networks easily and reliably. Features include data transfer rates up to 54Mbps and 72Mbps in turbo mode for more efficient downloads of high-bandwidth applications, such as presentations and spreadsheets -- and the ability for office workers to roam around the office while staying connected to email and the Internet.

NETGEAR Wireless LAN Products Based on IEEE 802.11a
The NETGEAR line of 54Mbps Wireless LAN products use the Atheros AR5000 chip set that strictly adheres to the IEEE 802.11a specification for optimized reliability and interoperability. Furthermore, IEEE 802.11a wireless networking offers a clean 5 GHz spectrum, providing a clear signal with no interference from IEEE 802.11b, Bluetooth devices and other 2.4 GHz products. NETGEAR solutions are secure and offer industry standard 64-bit/128-bit/152-bit WEP encryption for optimal privacy. The solutions are compatible with major versions of the Microsoft(TM) Windows Operating Systems, including Windows XP. NETGEAR will seek Wi-Fi5 interoperability and logo certification for the IEEE 802.11a products when the interoperability test program has been established by WECA, the certification body for 802.11 wireless products.

NETGEAR HA501 54Mbps Wireless PC Card
The NETGEAR HA501 Wireless PC Card is a 32-bit CardBus adapter for notebook PCs. It allows mobile users simple and intuitive access to corporate LANs and the Internet with data transfer rates of up to 54Mbps and 72Mbps in turbo mode. Pentium(R) Class PC users running Windows 98/2000/NT4.0/Me/XP can take advantage of the NETGEAR HA501 for constant wireless access to email, the Internet and other valuable resources. It is available for a CardBus PC Card Type II Slot and requires only 2MB of free hard drive space. The PC Card is easy to use -- simply plug into a laptop PC Card slot and download the utility and device driver to obtain network access. The NETGEAR HA501 is available for an expected street price of $179.

NETGEAR HE102 54Mbps Wireless Access Point
The NETGEAR HE102 54Mbps Wireless Access Point delivers bridging and roaming capabilities for wireless nodes such as notebook PCs. Based on the IEEE 802.11a standard, it facilitates delivery of content at 54Mbps and up to 72Mbps in turbo mode. The NETGEAR HE102 Wireless Access Point's superior capacity allows up to 64 users, twice the number supported by the IEEE 802.11b counterpart, thus vastly increasing the potential density of a wireless network. Additionally, the access point maintains an Access Control List where unauthorized users can be blocked out completely. Serving as an Ethernet-to-wireless bridge, the access point can be directly connected to a Cable/DSL modem for high-speed wireless Internet access. The NETGEAR HE102 Wireless Access Point is available for an expected street price of $429.

NETGEAR HR314 54Mbps Cable/DSL Wireless Router
The HR314 High-Speed Cable/DSL Wireless Router, which includes an integrated 54Mbps wireless access point, provides the ability to share a single broadband Internet connection with up to 253 users on a wired Ethernet LAN, or up to 64 wireless and 189 wired connections simultaneously. Along with WEP encryption, the router also employs network address translation, which reduces the likelihood of hackers gaining access to valuable data and resources, and DHCP for ease of administration. The NETGEAR HR314 High-Speed Cable/DSL Wireless Router is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2002.