Netgear (News - Alert) has announced that it will be expanding wired and wireless network bridges and extenders at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

 

"With applications such as social networking websites, broadband video streaming, console gaming, and Voice-over-IP increasing in mainstream consumer adoption, the Internet and home networks have combined to create the backbone technology that is driving both productivity and entertainment in the connected home," stated Patrick Lo, chairman and CEO of Netgear. "These emerging applications have created the demand for home networking products that deliver faster speeds over larger areas with greater reliability."

 

Netgear received honors this year from the 2008 CES (News - Alert) Innovations Design and Engineering committee for its Space-Saving Powerline Network Extender Kit.

 

Bridges and extenders are required to provide high-bandwidth connectivity to the network for network-enabled devices such as laptops, gaming consoles and media adapters, without the need to run Ethernet cables. Netgear is introducing a variety of wired and wireless bridges and wireless network extenders designed to deliver fast, reliable network connections to support bandwidth-intensive applications in the home.

 

The RangeMax Wireless Signal Extender connects into an existing wireless router or gateway to upgrade and extend the range and performance of an existing network. A patented internal array of seven smart metamaterial antennas for WiFi 802.11g networks delivers optimum range and data throughput performance. The RangeMax Wireless Signal Extender selects from hundreds of antenna combinations to find the optimal, interference-free path to each client, delivering a fast, stable wireless connection.

 

Netgear also announced it will expand its portfolio of wired, wireless and powerline Ethernet bridges and extenders with the first industry-standard and "on">MoCA Ethernet-to-Coax Bridge based upon the MoCA 1.1 specification in the first half of the year. The MoCA 1.1 Ethernet-to-Coax Bridge Kit is designed for high-def video streaming and online gaming, enabling consumers to use their existing in-home cable TV outlets to distribute high-def digital video and multimedia content, at a raw data rate of 270Mbps, to HDTVs, digital and Internet set-top boxes, computers and other networked devices.