CES 2009: Netgear Intros NAS, Wireless-N Products

By Staff -- TWICE, January 9, 2009

LAS VEGAS — Netgear is launching a network-attached storage device and the next generation of its Wireless-N products during International CES at booth 36219 in South Hall 4.

Its Duo (RND2000) is the newest member of the award-winning ReadyNAS family of network-attached storage solutions. It is said to allow users to centralize, organize and share all digital data in the home with a simple-to-use solution, according to the company.

Featuring a Gigabit Ethernet interface for fast data transfers, the ultra-compact ReadyNAS Duo enables users to centrally store music, photos, data files, and videos to make the transfer and sharing of digital data across the network "fast and easy," the company said.

The RND2000, which supports up to two hot-swappable Serial ATA (SATA) disk drives to provide up to 2 TB of storage capacity, is said to provide seamless clientless support for Windows, Macintosh and Linux/Unix clients, as well as FTP and HTTP support, enabling it to integrate seamlessly into any network environment. The RND2000 also supports all popular streaming-media protocols enabling users to stream audio and video files directly into the home entertainment center without the need for a separate networked computer.

The self-managing and monitoring ReadyNAS Duo comes complete with a Setup Wizard to get the NAS configured quickly on any home network, is administered via a graphical Web browser-based interface and conducts automatic online firmware updates. Integrated, patent-pending X-RAID technology automates RAID management, allowing users to start out with a single drive and add a second to gain redundancy to protect valuable data from loss due to drive failure. According to the company, with X-RAID running behind-the-scenes, ReadyNAS Duo replicates your data across the two drives making the data available even if one of the drives experiences failure.

The NETGEAR ReadyNAS Duo is backed by a five-year hardware warranty and will be available late in the first quarter at a suggested retail of $349.

Netgear is also showing the next generation of its Wireless-N products, including the RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N router (WNDR3300), RangeMax Premium Wireless-N Gigabit router (WNR3500), the 5GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge (WNHDE111), and HD/Gaming 5 Ghz Wireless-N networking kit (WNHDEB111).

The products are based on the IEEE 802.11n draft specification.