First Look: NETGEAR Wireless PC Card and Access Point

Wayne N. Kawamoto
Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com

NETGEAR Inc., a provider of small business and home networking products, announced the availability of its wireless local area networking (LAN) solution based on the IEEE 802.11a standard. According to the company, its latest 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, and the ability for office workers to roam around the office while staying connected to email and the Internet. The NETGEAR 802.11a solution may be ideal for home network users who want to transmit uninterrupted, bandwidth-intensive audio and video.

NETGEAR claims that its wireless LAN solution offers an easy configuration process that directs users through its set up within minutes. It is designed to automatically install the necessary network components, which may make it easy to use for people with little or no networking experience.

NETGEAR’s solution is designed to transfer data at five times the standard rate at about twice the price of existing 802.11b products, and enable users to network without the time and expense of laying Ethernet cable. The solution was built to accommodate the capacity and flexibility of growing networks, as well as the migration of an entire network to a new site. The product family currently includes the HA501 Wireless PC Card, the HE102 Wireless Access Point, the HR314 Cable/DSL Wireless Router and the HA301 Wireless PCI Adapter.