Netgear, who already has a close relationship with Telstra via their wireless routers and power over Ethernet adapters, is set to move into the TV market in an effort to boost revenues.Key to their growth will be a new category of wireless routers that enables users to connect a TV to the Internet wirelessly using high bandwidth technologies.
Patrick Lo, Netgear’s chairman and chief executive officer, claims that his company has moved beyond just connecting computers to the Internet, in a statement over the weekend Lo said that he hopes to push the boundaries of the next generation of televisions coming into homes today.
What Patrick Lo wants and what pans out in real life don’t always work out for Netgear. It was only four years ago that Lo tried to demonstrate a VOIP phone at the CES Show in Las Vegas which at the time he said was going to revolutionise home phones. Not only did his demonstration fail but Netgear have never been successful in the VOIP market that is now showing significant growth.
Lo said “A lot of the new Internet-connected televisions have an Ethernet port in the back, we want to offer products that can help consumer’s stream very high bandwidth content wirelessly, without having to plug in cumbersome wires and drag them throughout their homes.”
Among the new products the company announced on Friday, is a “3DHD wireless home theatre networking kit that can stream 1080p high definition video throughout the home, even over long distances, using hubs that can boost the signal.
The new wireless products can be plugged directly into existing Ethernet jacks in modern Internet-ready televisions and then stream video or other Web content wirelessly.
“3-D high-definition video is extremely cumbersome to move across a wireless network. We’ve reinvented our wireless technologies to easily stream this content without seeing any jitter or bumpy video,” explained Mr. Lo.
Most new 3-D televisions do not come with Wi-Fi hardware built-in due to slower wireless speeds and possible third-party wireless connectivity issues.
Mr. Lo said that most customers who plan to buy a new TV will purchase a device that comes with some sort of Ethernet connection. By offering wireless products in this category he hopes to double his $1 billion a year in revenue.
Netgear has also announced newReady NAS Ultra and Ultra Plus series of home media servers/network-attached storage drives that will ship in Australia shortly.
The three-SKU Ultra Plus models offer a 30 percent performance improvement over the Ultra models and can be used to increase the storage capacity of a TiVo DVR, the company said. The Ultra Plus additions include empty two-bay, four-bay and six-bay versions.
The Netgear 3DHD Wireless Home Networking kit can stream multiple 1080p video streams through homes as large as 5,000 square feet, the company said. This is done by using four transmitters and four receivers built into each wireless adapter.
