We excited about the new addition to the USB 1.1 Extender product line: USB Rover® 1850!

By going beyond the desktop, the USB Rover® 1850 extension system is ideal for use with USB peripherals including: keyboards, mice, interactive white boards, and game controllers.

The USB Rover® 1850 extension system is ideal for use with USB peripherals including: keyboards, mice, interactive white boards, and game controllers.

• Plug and play. No software drivers required
• Three (3) year warranty
• Designed and FCC/CE certified in North America
• Supports all major operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
• Reliable operation with more USB devices including USB 1.1 web cameras and USB hubs
• Provides support for any full-speed (12 Mbps) or low-speed (1.5 Mbps) USB device

The USB Rover® 1850 supplies better USB performance and USB device support, allowing users to extend USB 1.1 connections up to 40 meters over a single Cat 5 cable (85 meters may be achievable with low-speed HID devices such as keyboards and mice).

Examples of how the Rover 1850 1.1 extension solutions can be applied:

Interactive Whiteboards

Professional Video/Audio
Video/Media Source Computer in a Centralized Control Room

Remote Desktop
Extending KeyBoard and Mouse

For more information about this or any other USB and Video extension solution products, don’t hesitate to contact sales@icron.com.

The USB 3.0 final spec was published in late 2008 but it’s taken some time for USB 3.0 to materialize in the market. With multiple USB xHCI Host Controllers and IP available from companies like NEC, TI, and Synopsis and the Taiwanese manufacturers, we’re starting to see USB 3.0 products appear in the market.  The recent announcements of USB 3.0 motherboard integration by companies like ASUS and Gigabyte will certainly help accelerate the demand for OEM’s to implement USB 3.0 into devices as well.

Advantages of using USB 3.0:

• Speed– USB 3.0 is roughly about 10 times the performance (max.) than USB 2.0This is achieved because USB 3.0 is essentially an overlay on top of the D+/D- USB 2.0 wires, adding 2 additional sets of wires that carry USB 3.0 data only. With each differential pair taking care of one half of the communications (either host to device or device to host), the system delivers full duplex communications as opposed to the half duplex communications of USB 2.0.  There are some efficiencies in this method that help reduce power requirements (e.g. removing the need for polling) although new connectors and cables are obviously required to support all the additional internal wires.
  

  Source: www.ptgrey.com

• Power – Additional powering capabilities, namely increased bus power support:  150 mA vs. 100mA for unconfigured, 900mA vs. 500mA for configured devices (configured/unconfigured referring to software drivers) for powering devices without an external power supply.

• Performance – Early performance of USB 3.0 products seems to be varied from as low as a 3X performance boost to up to the expected 10X.  Performance is derived from the performance of each individual component in the system, namely the specific host controller (they aren’t all created equal!), connector/cable (you need a 3.0 cable and connector to get 3.0 speeds) and the device itself (and its specific USB 3.0 PHY implementation).

The USB 3.0 devices we’re seeing in the market today are mostly external hard drives, web cameras, and flash drives, it will be interesting to see what other device types migrate to USB 3.0 as certainly not all will given the cost adder.

As USB Extension experts for over 12 years, Icron will develop USB 3.0 extenders in the future, we’d love to hear from you on what types of devices you think will move to USB 3.0 and if you have any need to go beyond the 3 meter (10 feet) range of USB 3.0.

To read more on USB 3.0 and it’s future for business, go to IT World Canada

Taiwan’s ODM market has a competitive edge with strong production and research & development abilities. Most leading computer companies, such as Dell, HP, and Toshiba, rely on Taiwanese ODMs for manufacturing and some product development. They usually contract to two or three Taiwanese ODMs. (see list of ODMs).

Similarly, computer peripheral equipment companies also partner with ODMs. For example, Icron Technologies, which specializes in USB extension technology, partners with a few ODMs for manufacturing and co-developing products. This model complements and enhances Icron’s own R&D teams and enables the company to lower costs and speed up production.

Taiwan’s ODMs are continuing to grow and with government support are also evolving into OEMs to take care of design, manufacturing and sales for international brands as well as develop Taiwan brands.

For related articles see:

EETimes Asia
AllBusiness