NETGEAR First to Launch 16- and 24-port Unmanaged Copper Gigabit Switches for Small Business Networks

New Ultra-Fast, High-Speed Switches at Less Than $100 Per Port Will be Showcased at COMDEX Fall 2001

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — November 7, 2001 — NETGEAR Inc., a worldwide provider of innovative small business and home networking products, today introduced the GS516T 16-port 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Switch and the GS524T 24-port 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Switch. NETGEAR is the first to launch 16- and 24-port unmanaged copper gigabit switches, reaching an unprecedented price per port of $99 for the GS516T and $91 for the GS524T. NETGEAR’s high-speed switches are designed for small to medium networks requiring maximum speed and capacity. The gigabit switches perform at network speeds up to 2000 Mbps per port, making it the ideal hardware choice for businesses working with large amounts of graphical, sound or video information over the office network.

Combined with the GA302T 32-bit Copper Gigabit Adapter for clients, also showcasing at COMDEX, or the GA622T 64-bit Copper Gigabit Ethernet Card for servers, NETGEAR provides a complete end-to-end gigabit solution for the small business wanting to upgrade and maximize its network potential to gigabit speed. In tests, the GA302T has demonstrated fifty percent better performance than higher priced competition providing great value for its expected street price of $90.

"Small business customers prefer our end-to-end gigabit products, because they provide a robust, reliable network backbone at the fastest speeds available," said Patrick Lo, president and chief executive officer of NETGEAR. "Small businesses have been demanding high-end, 16- and 24-port unmanaged gigabit switches for their office networks, and we are proud to be the first to bring them to market and doing so at a great value."

Both the GS516T and the GS524T are designed with dedicated bandwidth of up to 2000 Mbps of data throughput per port in full-duplex mode. The unmanaged and rack-mountable switches feature 10/100/1000 automatic speed and full/half-duplex sensing plus Auto Uplink™ on every port, which automatically adjusts for straight-through or crossover cables to make the right link.. The GS516T and the GS524T are easy to install and use, and feature integrated LEDs on every port for effortless network monitoring. The expected street price for the GS516T is $1,590 and for the GS524T is $2,190.

NETGEAR’s GS516T and GS524T, as well as its other new gigabit products for the small business network, will be showcased at NETGEAR’s booth #L909 at COMDEX Fall 2001.

About NETGEAR Inc.
NETGEAR was recently named to Deloitte & Touche’s "2001 Technology Fast 50" Program for Silicon Valley due to its 4,527 percent growth over the last five years. NETGEAR provides easy-to-use, reliable networking solutions for homes and businesses worldwide. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, 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. The company markets and sells its products through a global network of resellers, including more than 4,500 retail stores, mail order catalogs and online retailers. Additionally, NETGEAR offers customers free support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information visit the company's Web site at www.netgear.com or call (408.907.8000).