NETGEAR, Inc., a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced a new generation of the industry's first and only stackable smart switches. Companies or remote offices with less than 500 employees can now build affordable and redundant network infrastructure without the cost and complexity of traditional IT vendor choices. The new NETGEAR Next Generation Gigabit Ethernet Stackable Smart Switch family provides scalability and redundancy without complicated command-line interfaces, special installation training or unique cabling.

This new smart switch family contains a 28 port model (GS728TSB), a 52 port model (GS752TSB), and Power-over-Ethernet versions of each (GS728TPSB and GS752TPSB). Stackable smart switches may be deployed individually and scaled at a later date, managed as a single device but failing over in a network emergency. All NETGEAR Gigabit Ethernet Stackable Smart Switches include IPv6 support and static routing for future-proofing and optimal network performance. All include performance features typically available only in more expensive products, such as dynamic VLAN assignment, Auto Voice and Auto Video, fiber uplink ports and PoE timers (as applicable). Ideal in virtualization, VoIP, video surveillance and converged networking applications, stackable smart switches help keep networking reliable, affordable and simple.

"Network expansion costs are a major impediment to the growth of small-to-medium size businesses. Sometimes companies are forced to throw away equipment to accommodate growth," said Tim Zimmerman, Research Director at Gartner. "Growing businesses welcome a solution that easily and quickly expands network capacity without any interruption in business operations."

"The Next -Generation Gigabit Ethernet Stackable Smart Switch will help Gidel & Kocal Construction Company, Inc. realize significant savings from our recent network expansion compared to our previous expansion," said Lance Gidel, President of Gidel & Kocal Construction Company, Inc. "And even with a larger network, the Stackable Smart Switch is much easier to manage than our previous switch configuration."

"The Stackable Smart Switch was specifically designed to address the requirements of today's network-dependent business environment," said Maggie Wu, Sr. Product Line Manager at NETGEAR. "This new switch family is a reliable, affordable and simple way for businesses to expand their networks with minimal interruptions while keeping pace with new opportunities."

Pricing and Availability

Next Generation Gigabit Ethernet Stackable Smart Switch model GS728TSB retails for $539.00; model GS752TSB retails for $1,015.00; model GS728TPSB retails for $1,470.00; and model GS752TPSB retails for $1,720.00. Worldwide distribution stock is expected on or before April 15, 2012.