Netgear
Encyclopedia
Netgear is a U.S. manufacturer of computer
networking
equipment and other computer hardware
.
The company was incorporated January 8, 1996 as a subsidiary
of Bay Networks
, to "focus on providing networking solutions for small businesses and homes." In August 1998, the company was purchased by Nortel
as part of its acquisition of Bay Networks
. Netgear remained a wholly owned subsidiary
of Nortel
until March 2000, when it began transitioning to third-party ownership. It became fully independent from Nortel as of February 2002.
Netgear sells primarily through a sales channel network, which includes traditional retailers, online retailers, direct market resellers, value added resellers, and broadband service providers in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Its main retail competitors are Linksys
and D-Link
. In 2007, the United States (38% of revenue) and the United Kingdom (52%) were the company's two largest markets; however, EMEA and Asia Pacific were the fastest growing, with growth rates of 28% and 34%, respectively.
Netgear's range of products are primarily focused in the networking market, with networking products for home and business use, including wired and wireless technology.
Netgear markets a range of network products for the business sector, most notably their ProSafe switch range. , Netgear provides limited lifetime warranties across their entire range of ProSafe products for as long as the original buyer owns the product.
Netgear also markets various network appliances for the business sector, such as managed switches and wired and wireless VPN
firewalls. The firewalls compete in the SoHo and SMB market with Linksys, as well as with software distributions such as pfSense
, m0n0wall
, SmoothWall
, and Untangle
. The managed switches compete with HP ProCurve
Networking and 3Com
.
In November 2009, Netgear upgraded its iSCSI SAN target to LIO.
Stora - A newer addition to the NAS
line is the Stora line of products. Aimed to be consumer friendly, easy to set up and configure, and complemented by a software suite for user-friendly backup and storage, Stora products bring file server functionality to the home user. DLNA-certified, Stora products will serve media to DLNA devices, such as Netgear's own EVA-2000 Digital Entertainer Live, or other DLNA-compliant products such as the Western Digital WD TV Live
.
, Cameo Communications, Delta Networks, Foxconn
, Senao and SerComm. Netgear believes that by outsourcing its manufacturing it is able to deliver a better cost price to consumers as well as keeping the quality to their expected standard.
.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
networking
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
equipment and other computer hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
.
The company was incorporated January 8, 1996 as a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Bay Networks
Bay Networks
Bay Networks was a network hardware vendor formed through the merger of Santa Clara, California based SynOptics Communications and Billerica, Massachusetts based Wellfleet Communications on July 6, 1994...
, to "focus on providing networking solutions for small businesses and homes." In August 1998, the company was purchased by Nortel
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
as part of its acquisition of Bay Networks
Bay Networks
Bay Networks was a network hardware vendor formed through the merger of Santa Clara, California based SynOptics Communications and Billerica, Massachusetts based Wellfleet Communications on July 6, 1994...
. Netgear remained a wholly owned subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Nortel
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
until March 2000, when it began transitioning to third-party ownership. It became fully independent from Nortel as of February 2002.
Netgear sells primarily through a sales channel network, which includes traditional retailers, online retailers, direct market resellers, value added resellers, and broadband service providers in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Its main retail competitors are Linksys
Linksys
Linksys by Cisco, commonly known as Linksys, is a brand of home and small office networking products now produced by Cisco Systems, though once a separate company founded in 1995 before being acquired by Cisco in 2003...
and D-Link
D-Link
D-Link Corporation was founded in June 1986 in Taipei as Datex Systems Inc. It began as a network adapter vendor and has gone on to become a designer, developer, and manufacturer of networking solutions for both the consumer and business markets.In 2007, it was the leading networking company in...
. In 2007, the United States (38% of revenue) and the United Kingdom (52%) were the company's two largest markets; however, EMEA and Asia Pacific were the fastest growing, with growth rates of 28% and 34%, respectively.
Product range
ProSafe switches
Network appliances
Virtual private network
A virtual private network is a network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users access to a central organizational network....
firewalls. The firewalls compete in the SoHo and SMB market with Linksys, as well as with software distributions such as pfSense
PfSense
pfSense is an open source firewall/router distribution based on FreeBSD. pfSense is meant to be installed on a personal computer and is noted for its reliability and offering features often only found in expensive commercial firewalls. It can be configured and upgraded through a web-based...
, m0n0wall
M0n0wall
m0n0wall is an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CDROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs...
, SmoothWall
SmoothWall
Smoothwall is a Linux distribution designed to be used as an open source firewall. Designed for ease of use, Smoothwall is configured via a web-based GUI, and requires little or no knowledge of Linux to install or use....
, and Untangle
Untangle
Untangle is a privately held company based in Sunnyvale, California. The company provides an open source network gateway for small businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations. Untangle provides multiple gateway applications installed at the edge of a network.-History:Untangle was founded in...
. The managed switches compete with HP ProCurve
ProCurve
HP ProCurve was the name of the networking division of Hewlett-Packard from 1998 to 2010 and associated with the products that it sold. The name of the division was changed to HP Networking in September 2010 after HP bought 3Com Corporation.-History:...
Networking and 3Com
3Com
3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
.
Security appliances
2009 Netgear launched the ProSecure product range with all-in-one gateway solutions for small businesses and branch-offices(UTM series) and stream-scanning-appliances for 100-600 concurrent users. They use the Stream-Scanning technologies by CP-Secure. In combination with the managed layer 3 switches and professional NAS devices in 19", Netgear addresses value added resellers new security resellers.Network Attached Storage
Netgear sells a line of premium NAS devices to small businesses and consumers under the product name ReadyNAS. With this storage hardware line, Netgear vies with competitors like Buffalo and HP to deliver NAS solutions to target market segments. Netgear entered the storage market in May 2007 when it acquired Infrant (originator of the ReadyNAS line). In March 2009, Netgear began to offer an integrated online backup solution called the ReadyNAS Vault.In November 2009, Netgear upgraded its iSCSI SAN target to LIO.
Stora - A newer addition to the NAS
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
line is the Stora line of products. Aimed to be consumer friendly, easy to set up and configure, and complemented by a software suite for user-friendly backup and storage, Stora products bring file server functionality to the home user. DLNA-certified, Stora products will serve media to DLNA devices, such as Netgear's own EVA-2000 Digital Entertainer Live, or other DLNA-compliant products such as the Western Digital WD TV Live
WD TV
The WD TV is a consumer device produced by Western Digital that plays videos, images, and music from USB drives. It can play high-definition video through an HDMI port, and standard video through composite video cables. It can play most common video and audio formats.-WD TV :In November 2008...
.
Manufacturing
Netgear outsources some of its manufacturing to other electronics companies, including Askey Computer Corporation, AsusASUS
ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
, Cameo Communications, Delta Networks, Foxconn
Foxconn
The Foxconn Technology Group is a multinational business group anchored by the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. , a Taiwan-registered corporation headquartered in Tucheng, Taiwan...
, Senao and SerComm. Netgear believes that by outsourcing its manufacturing it is able to deliver a better cost price to consumers as well as keeping the quality to their expected standard.
Quality
Some internet enthusiast sites reported buggy products in consumer wireless routers during 2003. For example, there was a class action lawsuit against the Netgear WGT624, claiming it contained faulty hardware or firmware.Awards
Netgear's Platinum II Enclosure (a case design used in most of Netgear's consumer products) was winner of a 2004 Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum, created in conjunction with NewDealDesignNewDealDesign
NewDealDesign is a strategic design firm based in San Francisco, California specializing in industrial design, strategic design, physical interaction design, physical branding and packaging.- About :...
.
See also
- Netgear DG834 (series)
- Netgear SC101Netgear SC101The SC101 is a home networked storage product manufactured and distributed by Netgear using networking storage technology licensed from Zetera Corporation . The device is capable of sharing data stored on 1 or 2 internal disks via Ethernet links...
- Netgear WGR614L
- Netgear WNR3500L