4 Tech Brands Owned By Netgear

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Many major tech brands have multiple subsidiaries or sub-brands to help differentiate their products. You'll also see companies do this for other business reasons, like isolating risks or protecting assets, and sometimes these sub-brands come about after a merger or acquisition. Netgear is a great example of this, because although the company is American-owned and largely focuses on networking equipment, it does have multiple subsidiaries with unique offerings.

Unlike other brands such as Linksys or Belkin, Netgear is not owned by any one entity, foreign or otherwise — it has no parent company. This is also a big reason why Netgear has been exempted from the FCC router ban, despite manufacturing equipment in countries outside the U.S., including Indonesia and Thailand. It is primarily an American company, albeit some of its biggest investors are BlackRock, Vanguard Fiduciary Trust, and Brandes Investment Partners.

Many will recognize Netgear for its home routers. The company also manufactures modems, mobile hotspot tech, range extenders, accessories, and more. But what you might also notice when shopping through some of Netgear's lineup is that there are products listed under another name. Orbi mesh routers are fairly common to see on Netgear's site and on third-party marketplaces like Amazon. Arlo was under Netgear at one time, but has since split off on its own. The question is, what other tech brands are owned and managed by Netgear?

The most obvious sub-brand under Netgear is Orbi, the company's whole-home mesh Wi-Fi label, which is specifically tailored to focus on more advanced home networking equipment. The first Orbi-branded system launched in 2016, and ever since, the company has continued to iterate with new models and new technologies, pushing its mesh offerings to new heights. Netgear and Orbi recently launched Wi-Fi 7 models to keep up with new standards, and Wi-Fi 8 models are currently being designed.

This is why you will not find mesh Wi-Fi systems available under Netgear's primary name — they're all offered under the Orbi moniker. If you're planning to upgrade to a new mesh network setup and want something from Netgear, Orbi is what you should be looking at. However, it's not the only networking-related sub-brand from the company, as besides Netgear, Nighthawk is another name to consider. In most cases and for most families, mesh Wi-Fi systems are better than regular routers, with the Orbi brand faring decently when ranking mesh Wi-Fi brands from worst to best, according to user reviews.

Nighthawk is another networking sub-brand under Netgear which places an emphasis on high-performance products "built to a higher standard." Nighthawk routers support the latest Wi-Fi protocols, like Wi-Fi 7, but also come with powerful security, innovative features, and high-performance tools to optimize networking tasks. Netgear's Nighthawk gaming routers are meant to streamline online gaming and streaming performance, but are also just one facet of the brand.

What's most striking about Nighthawk's current offerings is that they support some of the highest possible speeds and bandwidth in Netgear's traditional router lineup on the consumer side of the business. If you're looking to maximize the high-speed internet connection your ISP is providing, Nighthawk routers are a solid option. The Nighthawk RS700S Wi-Fi 7 router supports rates of up to 19 gigabits per second. The rest of the Nighthawk Wi-Fi 7 router family promises dual- or tri-band technologies with WPA3 encrypted security to go along with better coverage and performance than previous generations.

That advanced technology is what makes Netgear Nighthawk routers so expensive when compared to standard options. They generally feature elite hardware specifications and do an excellent job of prioritizing the right traffic, like active gaming streams.

While most of Netgear's products center around network and computing, Meural takes things in a slightly different direction. Netgear's Meural digital canvas frames are meant to display all kinds of art, from personal photos to custom artwork and photography. The Meural Canvas II takes inspiration from more traditional canvas designs — any digital artwork it displays shows up behind a portrait-like frame.

Key to the frame series is the Meural app, which allows you to upload content, set up your new digital frame, and configure various settings. You can also establish a playlist for artwork shown on the screen so that the frame has a consistent rotation of beautiful imagery. Of course, Netgear offers additional Meural models, such as a smaller desktop frame, and manages a subscription service related to the products. If you own a Meural frame, you can sign up to access a curated selection of artwork on your device. Granted, there are many digital photo frames and similar products available, giving you a ton of variety if this is something you're interested in.

While not a products-specific brand, Netgear also owns and manages ProAV for both commercial and residential customers. ProAV, or sometimes just AV, is an expert-services arm dedicated to helping customers set up custom technology solutions, whether at home, in their business, or at venues during major events. To give a less broad example, Netgear's AV for residential will help with a "hassle-free" home setup for networking equipment and related technologies, using switches, routers, and access points with expert-level support not just during setup, but also afterward — namely with smart insights. Netgear's network switches are also under the AV arm, whether big or small.

Imagine it as a custom design, installation, and operation service for both business and personal use. The commercial side involves larger-scale installations that support AV over IP for telecommunications.

If you're more interested in managing your home network by yourself, then Netgear's AV arm probably won't be for you. But if you have a larger-than-normal property and you need design help, you might turn to ProAV to help build out and support your network.