CES 2012

Netgear showed off the new Smart Network Cloud Application Platform on its 2012 routers, network attached storage (NAS) drives, and media players, where users can access a number of useful home networking apps through a dashboard called the AppManager. These third-party-developed apps include home lighting and power control, media search capabilities, and internet usage meters.

The media search app finds the media a user wants to play by searching titles and keywords of the music, movies, or photo files that are saved on their home network. This will undoubtedly be a time saver for those who have multiple computers or drives where one would otherwise have to search through several media libraries to find what they want to view or hear.

Another handy feature of the Smart Network is the internet usage meter. Many internet service providers are increasing their internet download speeds to allow streaming or downloading of big files like high definition movies. At the same time, they are imposing limits on usage, how much users are downloading and uploading in a month. If a user exceeds the usage caps, they may have to pay hefty surcharges.

Netgear’s new routers will come with an app to help manage internet usage. At any time, a user can go into their simple-to-use dashboard and see their internet usage for the month by number of Gigabytes downloaded and percentage. The router can be set for email alerts, or cut off access to the internet when a certain percentage of the monthly allotment is used.

While first available on Netgear’s 2012 models, the Smart Network Cloud Application Platform will later be offered as an update to high-end existing models.