The What: NETGEAR has expanded its new series of IP switches designed and purpose built for the growing AV-over-IP market with the M4250 series. Dubbed the AV Line, these products combine years of networking expertise with best practices from experts in the professional AV market.
The What Else: The switches feature AV-specific configuration presets designed to dramatically simplify deployment of AV networks. The NETGEAR IGMP Plus functionality along with new Auto-LAG and Auto-Trunk features allow pro AV installers to connect multiple M4250 switches together seamlessly without compromising audio and video signal quality and integrity. Removing complex configuration tasks enables the installer to focus on other important aspects of an AV install job, saving both time and money.
Pro AV installers no longer need to compromise the usability of their AV network with complex switch settings that are not AV friendly and commands that are typical of switches that were designed for an IT network as opposed to an AV network. The new AV interface of the M4250 switch presents the common AV controls with user-selectable profiles up front, making it a snap to ensure the settings are correct for specific audio or video applications.
Related: 10 Things You Need to Know About the NETGEAR M4250
The M4250 switches are designed for clean integration with traditional rack-mounted AV equipment. The sleek, black enclosure provides port and activity status on the front panel, with all power and network cabling neatly organized on the rear panel. The M4250 switches can also be reverse mounted in an AV rack if that is what an installer prefers. Additional options for mounting the switch outside a rack, such as VESA mounts, are also available. The M4250 switches come with pre-drilled universal threaded holes located on the bottom and the front of each switch.
Pro AV installers can take advantage of free design services offered by NETGEAR’s Pro AV Engineering Services team that comprises AV-over-IP experts located strategically around the world to enable rapid turnaround to installer requests. Installers are encouraged to reach out to the Pro AV Engineering Services team for upcoming projects via email: ProAVDesign@netgear.com.
“NETGEAR has pioneered IP switches that address the specific needs of the pro AV industry by closely collaborating with professional audiovisual installers to better understand the unique challenges they face with AV deployments,” said Patrick Lo, chairman and CEO of NETGEAR. “Out-of-the-box AV functionality, AV configuration presets, an AV friendly user interface design, and large PoE budgets make NETGEAR’s AV Line the industry’s most comprehensive offering of network switches for AV over IP.”
The Bottom Line: The AV Line of M4250 switches maintains the same out-of-the-box AV friendly functionality found on the popular M4300 and M4500 switches for the industry’s most popular AV-over-IP encoders and decoders. As such, deploying multicast AV over IP networks with the M4250 switches is a simple plug-in and turn-on operation.
The new NETGEAR AV Line M4250 series switches and AVB licenses will be available in the United States, Europe, and the APAC region as of late February 2021.
