ISP and telephony provider Netspace has inked an exclusive distribution deal with Netgear to supply ADSL/ADSL2/2+ modems for its consumer market.

Netspace spokesperson, Ben Dunscombe, said the company turned to Netgear because they were a leader in modem product suites and had been amongst the top sellers in the retail space.

He said discussions about a partnership had been brewing slowly for a couple of years, but were reinvigorated when Netgear approached them at the start of the year.

"We ship tens of thousands of units over the period of a year and it is vital for us to have the unit robust and reliable. In the absence of that, there is an inflated level of support calls".

Netgear has provided technical and customer service training to the 70 odd Netspace support staff to supplement their existing knowledge base concerning the Netgear modems, said Dunscombe.

The modems will be bundled with Netspace's internet services. Dunscombe said no introductory sales campaign was planned to accompany the new deal.