NETGEAR, a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced that the new Media Storage Router (WNDR4700) has received the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 Innovations Design and Engineering Award. The NETGEAR Media Storage Router combines the premium features and sheer speed of the award-winning NETGEAR N900 router (WNDR4500) with integrated storage functionality that offers consumers an industry-leading backup, storage, streaming and wireless networking solution in a single, high-performance package.
In a first for the consumer networking industry, the NETGEAR Media Storage Router also offers the ability to run downloadable applications from the NETGEAR Smart Network App Store. This enables NETGEAR to offer a broader portfolio of home networking services and features for consumers down the road.
The NETGEAR Media Storage Router comes with an integrated 2TB hard drive that is consumer-upgradable at any time. The Storage Router also provides two high-speed USB 3.0 ports for adding more storage capacity or for converting existing external USB hard drives into networked drives, making it the most advanced combination of wireless router and storage available to consumers today.
Ideal Media and Backup Solution for Mac and PC Users
A recent US study of Internet usage conducted by NETGEAR found that 43% of consumers have mixed environments at home and use both Apple® Mac® computers and Windows PCs. For Mac users, the NETGEAR Media Storage Router supports Apple Time Machine backup software and Apple Bonjour automated networking technology. Bonjour enables Macs, PCs and other Bonjour-compatible devices to automatically discover each other on a home network and share USB printers, storage devices and other resources. For Windows PC users, the NETGEAR Media Storage Router integrates easy-to-use, continuous backup software with the READYSHARE® Vault, for more robust backup capabilities. In the event of loss or failure of the storage disk or memory on a PC or Mac, this automatic backup functionality helps preserve both Apple iTunes music and video collections and irreplaceable family photos and movies. The product can also be used as a simple file storage system.
To remotely access files stored on the hard drive, the NETGEAR Media Storage Router also includes NETGEAR’s READYSHARE Cloud solution, which enables intuitive remote access from connected devices. With READYSHARE Cloud, consumer can easily and securely access data stored on the Media Storage Router’s internal hard drive or connected USB drive from their computers, tablets or smartphones, no matter where they are.
NETGEAR has also announced a media app for iOS and Android devices that enables consumers to use their smartphones or tablets to manage and stream media files stored on the router to any DLNA-enabled device in the home. DLNA is a set of media sharing standards and guidelines developed by the Digital Living Network Alliance – an association of consumer electronics and technology companies focused on making sharing of digital media between consumer devices, such as the latest TVs, disc players, media players, tablets, computers, printers, cameras, smartphones and more, as simple and effortless as possible. DLNA certified devices can automatically find and play any digital media stored on any other certified device on a home network.
The NETGEAR Media Storage Router delivers up to 900 megabits-per-second of combined WiFi speed and greater WiFi range across both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels for maximum performance, even under the most demanding streaming and data management tasks.
Other advanced features of the NETGEAR Media Storage Router include:
- READYSHARE Vault/Apple Time Machine Support: Provides continuous backup to the integrated hard drive for Windows PC, Mac or mixed households with support for READYSHARE Vault and Apple Time Machine.
- READYSHARE Cloud: Enables easy, remote access to its internal hard drive, enabling consumers to retrieve or edit files from any Internet-connected device.
- READYSHARE Printer: Makes it easy to turn any existing USB printer into a fully functional networked printer that is fully compatible with Macs and PCs.
- NETGEAR Genie®: This free utility for PCs and Macs enables home users to control, monitor, repair and manage their home networks easily through a simple, elegant dashboard. NETGEAR customers can download the utility at http://www.netgear.com/genie. The Mac version is available as a public beta.
- Guest network access: The NETGEAR Genie utility makes setting up a guest network simple. Guests and visitors can go online through the router without the need for secure login information. The guest network also prevents users from seeing and accessing a household’s computers, printers, storage devices and other home network devices.
- Media Server-DLNA: The Media Storage Router is DLNA certified and can act as a fully functional digital media hub and server. Just store your digital media on the Storage Router’s internal hard drive to enable automatic recognition and streaming of your media to any other DLNA compatible device in your house, including the latest TVs, disc players, media players, game consoles, handheld devices, tablets and more.
- Advanced Quality of Service: By prioritizing video streams over other home network traffic, advanced Quality of Service (QoS) provides the best possible viewing experience for online video.
- Gigabit wired Ethernet: Four high-speed gigabit Ethernet ports for ultra-fast wired connections are included.
- Leading security: The router supports WPA and WPA2 protocols for WiFi, has double firewall (SPI and NAT) protection against Internet threats, and provides Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack prevention.
- Broadband usage meter: Enables users to monitor their Internet data consumption and sends customized alerts when usage is close to monthly bandwidth limits to help consumers with metered service plans avoid costly overage fees.
- NETGEAR Live Parental Controls: Centralized, flexible, and reliable parental control solution for all the devices on the network, including Macs, Windows PCs, smartphones and tablets, for a safe online environment for children and teenagers. No subscription is required.
- Automatic WiFi security: Comes with wireless security turned on out-of-the-box, complete with a pre-configured network name and password, protecting home WiFi networks by default.
“More and more, consumers expect a premium HD streaming and wireless connectivity experience at home. But with the rapid proliferation of devices and content, consumers are asking for better ways to back up and secure the data, media and other content across all computers and devices in the home,” said Sandeep Harpalani, Senior Product Line Manager for Wireless Networking, NETGEAR. “Consumers also want the ability to access their data anywhere and stream or share their media to any screen in the home. The NETGEAR Media Storage Router offers all of this capability and much more in an easy-to-use, highly integrated, power-packed solution that delivers the best wireless networking experience, the fastest backups and a richly immersive streaming experience for today’s connected users.”
Pricing and Availability
The NETGEAR Media Storage Router (WNDR4700) will be available this summer from major worldwide retailers, in stores and online. Pricing will be announced at a later date.