COLFAX SCHOOL DISTRICT #300 STANDARDIZES ON NETGEAR FOR WIRED AND WIRELESS NETWORKING

NETGEAR to Display Products and Offer Drawing for “Portable Wireless Classroom” at NECC Trade Show Booth 2538 in New Orleans

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – June 18, 2004 – NETGEAR®, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically advanced, branded networking products, today announced that Colfax School District #300 of Colfax, Wash., has standardized on NETGEAR products to meet its wired and wireless networking needs.  More than 800 students, faculty and administrative staff are using a network supported by NETGEAR’s stackable Layer 2 Managed Fast Ethernet Switches and ProSafe™  Wireless Access Points.  NETGEAR is showing its products for K-12 schools, universities, libraries and other learning facilities at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in New Orleans next week starting June 21st.

Colfax School District is using 25 of the NETGEAR FSM726S 24-port 10/100 Mbps Managed Stackable Switches with 2 Gigabit Ports, stacked in seven disparate wiring closets within three buildings, providing connectivity to computers in classrooms, administrative offices, and four static computer labs.  The network also incorporates seven NETGEAR ME103 802.11b and WG302 802.11g ProSafe Wireless Access Points to support mobile networking and a mobile computer lab.  All 250 computers in the three separate locations are tied to each other and to a single connection to the Internet service provider’s fiber network via NETGEAR’s Fast Ethernet switches.

“School administrators realize that upgrading their IT infrastructure is vital to the education and satisfaction of their students and staff,’ said Kevin Allan, NETGEAR’s director of product marketing and management for business products.  “NETGEAR and its value-added reseller partners make it possible for school IT directors to have state-of-the-art networks with the fastest speeds, wireless convenience, easy management, and unbeatable performance and security, while still keeping an eye on their budgets.”

Colfax School District #300, one hour south of Spokane in southeastern Washington, consists of the Jennings Elementary School (grades K-8), the Colfax High School (levels 9-12), an agricultural studies building, and the Colfax School District administrative office, co-located with the high school.  After the District finished trenching a new fiber broadband connection to all the buildings, Mr. Terry Pittman, the technology director for Colfax School District #300, decided to upgrade the district’s existing network to get 1000 Mbps Gigabit speeds.  Working with Alden Associates, a platinum member of NETGEAR’s Powershift Partner Program, Mr. Pittman began the upgrade in July 2003 by first installing NETGEAR switches.  He was so satisfied with the performance of the NETGEAR products that he later added a mobile computer lab utilizing NETGEAR’s wireless technology.

Said Terry Pittman, technology director for Colfax School District, “I looked at various vendors, but NETGEAR’s equipment was hands-down the most attractive option.  No one else could come close to offering the features I wanted — Gigabit speeds, stackable capability, remote management — at a price within my budget.  Some vendors even charge separately for the switch stacking cables, but NETGEAR gave me a complete solution for approximately 0 per switch including the cables, which is hundreds less than I would have paid.  With help from a single Alden consultant, we installed the switches and got the new network up and running in three hours.  It was an amazingly smooth transition.”

Mr. Pittman chose the FSM726S, an affordable 24+2 Layer 2 Managed Fast Ethernet Switch that is intuitive enough for new users but powerful enough for experienced professionals.  It offers the flexibility of 24 10/100 Mbps ports, two rear built-in stacking ports, and two 10/100/1000 Mbps ports using either built-in 1000 Base-T copper or GBIC modules.  The FSM726S provides simple, cost-effective stacking of up to six units, meaning that small and growing business or educational facilities can accommodate as many as 144 users and utilize up to 12 Gigabit Ethernet ports in a stack.  The non-blocking architecture of the FSM726S delivers high-performance data transfer while 802.1p and DiffServ traffic prioritization ensures available bandwidth for voice and video applications.  A web-based graphical user interface, menu-driven console, full SNMP, and four groups of RMON meet the IT director’s management needs, while 802.1x and RADIUS provide for a secure infrastructure.

When Mr. Pittman decided to add a mobile computer lab, he installed seven wireless access points from NETGEAR in strategic locations in the three buildings.  Part of NETGEAR’s ProSafe product family using 802.11b and 802.11g wireless standards, the 11 Mbps ME103 and 54 Mbps WG302 wireless access points offer staff and students the flexibility of wireless connectivity.  The 24-laptop mobile computer lab enables teachers to bring the computer lab to the students; plans are in place to roll out three additional mobile computer labs in the near future, which will also connect to the NETGEAR ProSafe wireless access points.  According to Mr. Pittman, multiple classrooms share the same access point, and teachers and students have found the wireless networking option particularly useful when making presentations, as they are able to set up laptops and projectors where wired devices aren’t practical.

NETGEAR’s ProSafe wireless access points offer advanced security and management features along with high-performance speeds and range designed to meet the demanding requirements of small- to medium-sized businesses and hot spot deployments.  The IEEE 802.11g and Wi-Fi-compliant 54 Mbps WG302 access point supports both 802.11b and 802.11g client devices and has speeds up to 108 Mbps, making it easy to migrate to the next generation of high performance wireless networking technology while maximizing the current investment in existing 802.11b products.  Advanced security features include WPA, 802.1x, VPN pass-through support, and MAC address filtering.  The WG302 also supports IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE), enabling the access point to be powered by a 10/100 Mbps switch port that supports 802.3af.  This eliminates the need for the access point to be deployed near a power outlet; it can be placed for maximum coverage in the space above suspended ceilings.  To further maximize network coverage in difficult areas, the WG302 is equipped with two powerful 5 dBi detachable antennas, while the IEEE 802.11b 11 Mbps ME103 has two detachable 2 dBi antennas.  Both products are compatible with NETGEAR’s line of directional and omni-directional antennas and accessories.

“I truly couldn’t be happier with my NETGEAR-based network or with support from Alden Associates,” says Mr. Pittman.  “The staff and students are thrilled that the performance is significantly faster and extremely reliable, and we all find it very helpful to have a wireless networking option.  It’s also a tremendous time-saver, since I don’t have to go in person to all the separate closets in the different buildings to manage the switches.  I can do everything from my own office, via a Web interface.”

NETGEAR is showing its business-class products for educational facilities and small and medium-sized businesses at NECC in New Orleans from June 21-23.  NETGEAR is in booth 2538 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.  At NECC, NETGEAR will give away a NETGEAR wireless access point along with the Firetide Hotpoint™  wireless mesh  router from Firetide™, Inc.  These products can be used to deploy a secure, manageable instant Wi-Fi network — a portable wireless classroom.

About NETGEAR, Inc.

NETGEAR (Nasdaq: NTGR) designs technologically advanced, branded networking products that address the specific needs of small and medium business and home users. The Company's suite of approximately 100 products enables users to share Internet access, peripherals, files, digital multimedia content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices.  NETGEAR is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.  For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.netgear.com or call (408) 907-8000.

©2004 NETGEAR, Inc., NETGEAR®, the NETGEAR logo, and ProSafe are trademarks or registered trademarks of Netgear, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.  Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.  Information is subject to change without notice.  All rights reserved.

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Various matters set forth in this press release, such as statements relating to the expected performance characteristics, specifications, market acceptance, market growth, specific uses and market position of NETGEAR, Inc. and its products and technology are forward-looking statements.  These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the price/performance requirements of customers, the ability of NETGEAR to sell products incorporating the technology, the impact and pricing of competing technologies, the introduction of alternative technological solutions, and other risks detailed from time-to-time in NETGEAR'S SEC filings and reports.

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