Gefen’s ToolBox line of digital I/O and networking widgets has a new member, the ToolBox USB 2.0 Extender Long Range.
This pair of small utility boxes, including a sender for a host computer and a receiver, are designed to place a USB port up to 330 feet (100 meters) from a host computer.
That would make it suitable for interfacing with peripherals in other rooms that are not part of a typical Ethernet network. The boxes can also be used for cameras, portable hard drives, disc burners, etc.
The receiver unit has four USB ports. The sender unit plugs into a single USB port on the host computer. The boxes are connected to each other via standard Cat-5, Cat-5e or Cat-6 cables. Each has an input for a 5VDC power source. Throughput is expected to be 480 Mbps.
It is functional with USB 2.0 or legacy USB 1.1. Here’s the brochure (PDF).
