Western Digital, a leading maker of hard drives and consumer storage devices, has unveiled its first line of wireless home networking products, designed specifically to accelerate movies, video and gaming. With the My Net family of networking products, WD debuts its exclusive FasTrack technology that instantly detects entertainment traffic on the network and fast-forwards it to appropriate Wi-Fi connected devices.

WD's My Net family of dual-band wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n routers features WD’s exclusive FasTrack optimization technology that intelligently and automatically prioritizes Internet favorites like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube, Xbox Live, Skype and others, to create a smooth streaming experience in up to Full-HD 1080p quality. By using real-time analysis to maximize bandwidth for entertainment services, My Net routers provide a premium entertainment experience on any screen in the home that is connected to the router.

All five WD My Net dual-band routers support dual-band (simultaneous 2.4GHz  and 5GHz connections) wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n technology and feature several Gigabit Ethernet ports, USB 2.0 ports and feature FastTrack technology. The routers are compatible with Apple Macs and Microsoft Windows personal computers as well as devices powered by Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems.

In addition to getting a premium home entertainment experience with My Net routers, customers can centralize storage and backup for all the computers in their home, as well as create a personal cloud for their digital media and remotely access those files anytime, anywhere. Part of the My Net family, My Net N900 Central is WD’s all-in-one N900 router with an integrated 1TB or 2TB internal hard drive. Remote access to My Net N900 Central is available on any computer through www.WD2go.com and with WD mobile apps for Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets.

Users can also rely on My Net N900 Central for automatic wireless backup with the included WD SmartWare software for Windows, while Mac users can utilize all the features of Apple Time Machine backup software. Additionally, any WD external hard drive with SmartWare software can connect directly to a My Net router to wirelessly backup all PC computers in the home.

According to Nielsen and NM Incite’s recent U.S. digital consumer report, data from Q1 2011 shows that 33% of consumers streamed a movie or TV show from the Internet through a subscription service such as Netflix or Hulu Plus. Internet video services, multi-player online gaming sites, and live video chat services, combined with the explosive growth of tablets, smartphones and other devices that connect to the home network, have created a new model of home entertainment and Internet usage.

“With so many people within the home simultaneously watching movies, playing games and browsing the Web via their iPad, iPhone, Xbox and other devices, the network demands placed on today’s connected home has grown exponentially,” stated Jim Welsh, executive vice president for WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups.

Tags: WD, Western Digital, My Net, HDD, Wi-Fi