Awarded at CES 2016, Netgear says new AC Wi-Fi line is optimized for smart homes

At the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016) in Las Vegas (Jan. 6-9), Netgear (NASDAQ: NTGR) will be lauded with 4 CES Innovation Awards for products that make it easier "for mobile and smart home devices to connect anywhere in the home at the fastest AC WiFi speeds," the company says. At the show, the company will also unveil its new Nighthawk WiFi routers and extenders, Arlo Smart Home security products, new powerline and PowerLINE WiFi adapters, fast cable modem products, and the company 's ReadyNAS storage platform.

Four Netgear products will be on display in the CES 2016 Innovation Awards Showcase at the Sands Expo center. "These honorees have been evaluated by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) for their exceptional engineering, aesthetic design, and innovative qualities," said CES of the awarded products. The winners include Netgear's: Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Smart WiFi Router (R8500); Nighthawk X4S AC2600 Smart WiFi Router (R7800); Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi Cable Modem Router (C7000); and CM600 High Speed Cable Modem. A brief description of each, as provided by the company, is as follows:

-- "The Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Smart WiFi Router (R8500)...delivers astonishing Internet performance with combined WiFi speeds up to a blistering 5.3Gbps (1000Mbps + 2166Mbps + 2166Mbps), a new record for a home router. With Wave 2 WiFi features including tri-band, quad-stream, and MU-MIMO capability, it offers the ultimate performance and experience in whole-home networking, at an MSRP of $399.99."

-- "With dual-band WiFi and supporting Wave 2 WiFi features including quad-stream, MU-MIMO, and 160MHz bandwidth, the Nighthawk X4S AC2600 Smart WiFi Router (R7800) is an ideal router for 4K HD streaming and gaming. Its powerful dual-core 1.7GHz processor provides extreme 802.11ac WiFi speeds up to 2.53Gbps* (800Mbps + 1733Mbps). It maximizes connection speeds for sending data to multiple mobile devices simultaneously, with 160MHz-capable mobile devices able to enjoy up to twice the throughput provided by other routers. It has an MSRP of $269.99."

-- "A new firmware release is planned soon for the Nighthawk AC1900 Smart WiFi Router (R7000)...will directly support Netgear Arlo security cameras without requiring a base station. This makes it much easier for current and new Netgear Nighthawk customers to add the award-winning Arlo cameras to [the] home network. Recently released new features include Smart Connect for intelligently selecting the fastest and most optimal WiFi band (2.4 or 5GHz) for each device, and support for the Kwilt iOS app for viewing and sharing your photos from social media and now even from your Nighthawk-attached USB storage, all from your mobile device. It is the most full-featured dual-band WiFi router available for an MSRP of $199.99."

-- "At CES, Netgear will also showcase two 2016 CES Innovation Award honorees from its Cable Family. The CM600 High Speed Cable Modem with 24x8 channel bonding supports the industry’s fastest cable Internet download speeds up to an incredible 960Mbps. The Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi Cable Modem Router (C7000) combines 24x8 channel bonding with incredibly fast WiFi speeds up to 1.9Gbps (600Mbps + 1300Mbps). The CM600 Cable Modem has an MSRP of $129.99 while the Nighthawk Cable Modem Router has a $279.99 MSRP."

“The foundation of the smart home is the underlying high-performance network that supercharges it," commented Patrick Lo, founder and CEO of Netgear. "If you want to access HD Internet content in-the-moment, you need WiFi that reaches everywhere you are, at the speed and signal strength you need for streaming, gaming, home security, and working remotely."

Other Netgear products being introduced at CES 2016, as summarized by the company, include the following:

"Eliminating Internet Dead Zones in Your Home: Do you have Internet “dead” zones within your home due to obstacles such as building construction and distance from the wireless router? Netgear is adding to its already-broad product menu for addressing these challenges, with new WiFi Range Extenders and new Netgear PowerLINE connectivity options that use existing electrical wiring. The new NETGEAR Nighthawk X4 AC2200 WiFi Range Extender (EX7300) (www.netgear.com/EX7300) is the industry’s first AC2200 wall-plug range extender with MU-MIMO technology. It maximizes the range of your existing WiFi router up to 10,000 square feet so you can enjoy streaming and gaming throughout your home, simultaneously streaming HD data to multiple devices at lightning-fast speeds up to 2.2Gbps (450Mbps + 1733Mbps). It’s launching with the Netgear AC1900 WiFi Range Extender (EX6400) (www.netgear.com/EX6400), which offers a similar feature set to enhance range and performance for your mobile connected devices, but at a different speed and price. The MSRP for Nighthawk X4 WiFi Range Extender is $169.99 while the AC1900 WiFi Range Extender is $139.99.

At twice the speed of previous 500Mbps powerline products, the industry-first Netgear PowerLINE WiFi 1000 Adapter Kit (PLW1000) (www.netgear.com/PLW1000) uses blazing-fast Gigabit powerline technology compliant with the HomePlug AV2 standard to send data through your home’s electrical outlets for plug-and-play Internet connectivity even in the hardest-to-reach areas of your home. PowerLINE WiFi creates an extra WiFi hotspot in any room to eliminate weak signals or dead zones and provides super-fast 802.11ac WiFi connectivity for your mobile devices. The PowerLINE WiFi 1000 Kit has an MSRP of $119.99. [Also being launched], the new PowerLINE 1000 Adapter Kit (PL1000) (www.netgear.com/PL1000) enables you to use existing electrical wiring in your home to broaden the reach of your wired Internet connection to support home theater, game consoles, PCs, or home security devices in any room, at Gigabit Ethernet speeds, for $69.99 MSRP."

"Protecting Your Home and Your Content: Netgear is demonstrating its newly-available Arlo Q 1080p HD Security Camera with Audio (VMC3040) (www.Arlo.com) as well as the 2015 CES Innovation Award-winning Arlo Wire-Free Security System with HD Cameras. Easily connecting directly to your existing WiFi network, Arlo Q gives smart home security its biggest IQ boost yet with brilliantly detailed 1080p high-definition video, two-way audio communication, customizable sound or motion alerts, built-in night vision capabilities, and an industry-leading 7 days of free cloud storage for videos to make sure your most important motion-triggered recordings are automatically saved for later viewing. The Arlo Family provides you with the only solution on the market that easily covers every angle of your home or business — indoors and outdoors, day and night. Arlo Q has an MSRP of $219.99. See today’s press release for more information.

[Also at CES 2016], be sure to check out the Netgear family of world-class Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices which includes the ReadyNAS 200 Series (www.netgear.com/readynas-for-home) for home and home office networks. NETGEAR recently added two- and four-bay models, ReadyNAS 212 and ReadyNAS 214, which set a new standard for consumer NAS by delivering real-time 1080p high-definition video transcoding capability so you can view your HD content on any screen, anywhere at home and over the Internet. They offer the best performance in their value class for storing, streaming, transcoding, and protecting all your precious photos, videos and files. ReadyNAS 212 has an MSRP of $329.99, while ReadyNAS 214 is $499.99 (for diskless models)."

"Upgrading Your Cable and DSL Network Performance: With Netgear cable products, you can save money on monthly equipment rental fees by owning your cable modem and router. The new AC1600 WiFi Cable Modem Router (C6250-100NAS) (www.netgear.com/C6250) integrates a high performance WiFi router with a built-in CableLabs-certified DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem that supports the highest data tier plans offered by major U.S. cable Internet providers like Comcast XFINITY and more. With 16x4 channel bonding for ultra-fast Internet cable download speeds up to 640Mbps along with best-in-class, simultaneous dual-band 802.11ac WiFi speeds up to 1.6Gbps* (300Mbps + 1300Mbps), you can experience smoother streaming of HD videos, movies and music, more responsive online gaming, and faster file downloads even during peak usage hours. It will be available soon at an MSRP of $169.99.

Netgear is also announcing the new V7610 VDSL Wave 2 WiFi Gateway for service providers that delivers more effective access bandwidth to small business locations, enabling HD IPTV, IP voice, and high-availability Internet. It is the world’s first 4x4 802.11ac VDSL Gateway using Broadcom’s 4366 chipset. It combines a built-in fast VDSL modem with next-generation Wave 2 WiFi technology and MU-MIMO capability to improve streaming to multiple, simultaneous mobile device connections. A powerful dual-core 1GHz processor delivers lower latencies and 802.11ac WiFi speeds up to an amazing 2.8Gbps* (600Mbps + 2166Mbps) of throughput. It offers integrated FXS ports and CAT-iq 2.0 for SIP-based VoIP connections. Its Gigabit Ethernet WAN port is compatible with any Internet service so it offers a future-ready upgrade to fiber/cable options."