Digi Combined USB and Serial Over IP Hub

Digi International introduced two new AnywhereUSB products, the AnywhereUSB TS and AnywhereUSB/2.

The AnywhereUSB TS is the industry’s first combined USB and serial over IP hub. It combines Digi’s patented Realport USB-over-IP and Realport Serial-over-IP technology in one product allowing customers to easily network both USB and serial devices with one solution. The AnywhereUSB/2 is a compact USB hub featuring Realport USB-over-IP technology. This allows the product to easily connect USB devices anywhere on a wired or wireless network and is perfect for use in space-constrained environments. AnywhereUSB products are ideal for connecting USB devices to networks in virtualization, retail and healthcare applications.

"We are growing the product line to address specific customer needs," said Stephen Popovich, vice president of business development, Digi International. "In addition to allowing customers to connect both serial and USB devices with one hub, the AnywhereUSB TS provides customers greater flexibility to migrate from serial to USB devices. This is common in healthcare with equipment like blood analyzers or glucose meters and in retail environments."

Digi’s entire line of AnywhereUSB products is also perfect for use with virtual machine software, a market growing at 50 percent year over year. AnywhereUSB makes it easy for a USB device like a USB authentication key to be supported over the network by an application in a virtual environment such as VMware, Microsoft Virtual Server and Xen.

AnywhereUSB products eliminate the need for locally-attached host PCs and break the traditional five-meter USB cabling distance limitation. Customers can access and monitor their devices anywhere an Internet connection is available to simplify operations and reduce IT support.

The AnywhereUSB/2 features two USB ports and one Ethernet port. The AnywhereUSB TS features four USB ports, four serial ports and one Ethernet port. It also includes patented Realport serial-to-Ethernet technology that allows customers to easily network enable their serial devices. All AnywhereUSB products are compatible with bulk or interrupt type USB devices such as bar-code scanners, printers, fingerprint scanners and card readers. Digi’s Watchport USB cameras, Watchport Sensors and Edgeport USB-to-serial Converters are also compatible.