NETGEAR, Inc., has announced the launch of RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB (WNR3500L), a full-featured Wireless-N router offering high-performance wireless range and speed along with Gigabit Ethernet ports and ReadyShare(TM) USB storage access.

The RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB is also designed to serve as a reliable, high-performance open source Linux® platform supporting a wide variety of applications created by multiple development partners and the dedicated open source community. Some of these partners include BigFoot Networks for boosting network speeds for online gaming, Leaf Networks for easy remote access, Paragon Software for high-speed USB file reads and writes, and Sputnik for hotspot solutions.

The most popular free, open source Linux-based firmware -- DD-WRT, OpenWRT and Tomato -- are also available on the RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router, making it easier for users to develop a wide variety of applications. Customers can download the Linux-based open source firmware from the open source community and development program website at http://www.myopenrouter.com.

"The debut of our open source RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router is significant as it is the first full-featured Wireless-N Linux router to combine wide ranging capabilities, features, infrastructure and a community to enable application development," stated Som Pal Choudhury, senior product line manager for advanced wireless at NETGEAR. "Feedback and ideas from our open source community have been key in developing this powerful platform. We are therefore very pleased to announce our Development Partner Program, with multiple software vendors and developers creating customized, robust, commercial-grade applications on the WNR3500L."