Las Vegas (NV) - Buffalo Technology announced a herd of new products this morning at CES, including its first US dual-band WLAN products, new Terastation NASes, a 240 Mbps MIMO line based on Airgo's third-generation chipset, and a $100 digital media adapter.

Buffalo's AirStation Wireless A/G High Power Smart Router (WHR-HP-AM54G54) and the AirStation Wireless A/G High Power USB Adapter with Antenna (WLI-U2-AMG54HP) are its first products available in the US to support 802.11a operation. Buffalo is using an "11a = media, 11b/g = data" pitch to promote the product, similar to one used by other consumer networking product manufacturers a year or so ago before they started flogging MIMO as the way to go for wireless multimedia streaming.

The products are based on Atheros' SuperG chipsets, support WDS bridging repeating and WEP, WPA and WPA2 wireless security. The router's speed is spec'd at just shy of 100 Mbps to support FTTH applications. The products will be available in February at estimated street prices of $99 for the router and $79 for the USB Adapter.

For digital multimedia, Buffalo has added its LinkTheater Mini (PC-P1LAN) and LinkStation Home Server. The Mini is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compliant using Mediabolic's middleware, and supports native MPEG2, JPEG, MP3, BMP, PNG, and LPCM media formats as well as automatic conversion of WMV, AVI, GIF and WMA. It connects via 10/100 Ethernet and comes with PC media server software.

The Server is also DLNA compliant, Mediabolic-based, comes in 300 and 400 Gb capacities and connects via a 10/100/1000 Ethernet port that includes Jumbo Frame support. In addition to media streaming, the product handles normal data file sharing, USB printer sharing and includes an FTP server and backup via Memeo AutoBackup software as well as Buffalo's own backup utility.

The Mini will be available in January around $99 street while the LinkStation Home Server 300GB (HS-D300GL) and 400 Gb (HS-D400GL) will follow at the end of January for $399 and $549 estimated street respectively.

Switching back to wireless, the AirStation MIMO Wireless Cable/DSL Router (WZR-G240) and AirStation MIMO Wireless Notebook Adapter (WLI-CB-G240) are Buffalo's offerings using Airgo's third-generation 240 Mbps MIMO chipset. Features are similar to Airgo third-gen products from other manufacturers, with the exception of support for Buffalo's AOSS automatic secure wireless setup and 100Mbps wire-speed routing capability. The router and card will be out in February at $149 and $99 estimated street.

Finally, Buffalo has added two new versions of its TeraStation TeraByte NASes. The TeraStation Home Server (HS-D1.0GL/R5) appears to be pretty much the same as the existing TeraStation but with a DLNA compliant media server, once again, based on Mediabolic middleware.

The TeraStation Pro, however, is different, with a number of features aimed at improving its acceptance by the SMB crowd. Those features include serial ATA hard drives, lockable front panel door on for easy access and replacement of hard drives, and LCD monitor, for clearer status monitoring

The Pro line is immediately available at estimated street prices of $799 for 0.6 Tb (TS-0.6TGL/R5), $999 for 1 Tb (TS-1.0TGL/R5) and $1,799 for 1.6 Tb (TS-1.6TGL/R5).

Exclusive coverage of CES 2006 continues throughout the day, from TG Daily and the network of TG Publishing.

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