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DIY: Create USB Dongle to Run USB Over CAT5 Cable

Icron is the leader in professional extensions for USB technology where a company or corporation is looking to run data via USB over an extended amount of length.  Generally USB is goof for about 12 feet or so, but with Icron you can run over 300 feet of USB.  Yet, there is a middle ground for those who need more than 12 feet and less than 40 feet for USB data transmittal applications.  A good example is a small business or home business who’s looking to run a USB webcam at the front door for security.

diy usb extension

Albeit you can get some WiFi webcams you may want to build something yourself for only pennies.  Today, we have a nice tutorial for you to build a USB dongle for a CAT5 cable to run USB data transfers.  The CAT5 DIY project will double your USB cable length and get you to about 30 or 35 feet of distance.This project is best suited for video and audio transfers for extended S-Video applications or webcam applications.  I found this tutorial on Instructables. Enjoy. Continue Reading

Icron Introduces USB 2.0 Extensions for Those On a Budget

icronIcron is leading the way in low cost USB extension options with their new Ranger 2101 and Ranger 2104 products. These extension adapters are a single connect to extend a USB device up to 100 meters away. The concept is simple, through USB and CAT5 Icron ExtremeUSB technology can maintain high speed USB transfer rates over such a hard wired configuration. The Ranger 2101 is a single connect ExtremeUSB extension box with a retail price of $349 and the Ranger 2104 is a single connect with 4 port end-point hub for multiple device connection for only $389. To learn more about the Icron ExtremeUSB technology read my earlier posts. As for today’s announcement:
“Our customers are connecting USB enabled devices in more challenging and unique applications which demand higher performance and flexibility from our ExtremeUSB technology.” stated Robert Eisses, President and CEO of Icron Technologies. “We are committed to enhancing the technology to increase the implementation options to be able to dramatically expand the market for ExtremeUSB technology. Ranger 2101 and Ranger 2104 are the initial products in a new series of solutions from Icron that include other cost down products and ultimately a family of single chip ExtremeUSB devices, ideal for embedding into a variety of applications.”
Over the past 18 months the company has focused its Research and Development initiatives on evolving its core ExtremeUSB technology to be more flexible and cost effective to encourage quick adoption into larger markets. With over 2 Billion USB ports shipped Continue Reading

Icron Makes BIV’s Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies List

icronPress Release – BURNABY, B.C., September 13, 2007 – Icron Technologies Corporation (TSX Venture: IT), the developers of ExtremeUSB® places as one of the fastest growing companies in British Columbia by Business in Vancouver newspaper. Icron ranks in at 64 based upon their revenue growth between and including 2002 / 2006 which increased 213% during this period. This is Icron’s second recognition of rapid growth in the last three months Ranking BC’s Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue growth, the BIV Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies List profiles BC’s most successful growth companies. Published in the September 4th issue of BIV, the list shows that companies in BC are excelling more than ever before in this sustained economic boom. Continue Reading

Icron Issued Canadian Patent for USB 2.0 Extension Technology

icronPress Release – BURNABY, B.C. September 13, 2007 – Icron Technologies Corporation (TSX Venture: IT), the developers of ExtremeUSB® today announced that it has been issued a patent from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for enhancements to its ExtremeUSB technology for high-speed USB 2.0 implementations. This patent, titled “Method and apparatus for extending the range of the universal serial bus protocol”, builds upon earlier patents covering USB 1.1 range extension. The invention described in the patent enables long-range or increased latency communication between high-speed (480 Mb/s) host controllers and full-speed (12 Mb/s) peripherals. It also provides support for the high-bandwidth peripherals that were introduced by the USB 2.0 specification. The issuance of this patent is the third of a series of applications filed through the Patent Corporation Treaty in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom patent was issued in December 2005 and the US patent was issued in January of 2007. Icron’s ExtremeUSB 2.0 technology allows manufacturers of PC’s, peripherals, and consumer electronics to extend the range that USB 2.0 devices can operate over UTP cable, fiber optics, power line or any wireless media at any distance without making any changes to the USB ecosystem. This ensures that users will have a “plug and play” experience right out of the box, requiring no additional drivers, host controller changes, or user configurations. It supports all USB supported operating systems including Windows, MAC OS, Linux, Unix and Solaris.
“As Icron continues to evolve our ExtremeUSB technology and implement it over more and more platforms, we will continue to expand out patent portfolio to protect our intellectual property in the USB technology space.”
commented Robert Eisses, President and CEO for Icron. USB 2.0 continues to be the most recognized and successful interface for device connectivity in the PC, CE and mobile device market. Icron continues its leadership in the USB 2.0 market with the receipt of this patent and expansion of its USB 2.0 extension product line including new long distance wired, USB over Power Line and wireless USB solutions. About Icron Technologies Corporation Icron Technologies Corporation’s patented ExtremeUSB® technology extends the range of USB in wired environments and enables wireless USB over any RF technology. ExtremeUSB is the only USB-IF compliant extension solution and is deployed globally in a wide range of applications including: industrial automation, medical device, aerospace, KVM and computer networking. ExtremeUSB technology is available in a variety of formats including technology licenses, OEM modules, developer kits, as well as branded and private-label products. Icron is a publicly traded corporation and trades under the symbol “IT” on the TSX Venture Exchange. For more information on the company and its products, please visit www.icron.com. ### Contact Information Icron Media Contact Brigitta Shore Phone: +1 604-729-9479 brigitta.shore@icron.com Continue Reading

Converter Kit for SATA or IDE to USB

This SATA/IDE to USB converter kit would be the easiest way to clone your hard drive and finally upgrade your laptop storage space. However, the combo kit isn’t limited to just 2.5 inch hard drives but includes connection support for 1.8, 3.5 and 5.25 inch hard drives along with CD-ROM drives, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD blah blah blah – anything in 5.25 inch size.
sata to usb converter
The USB to SATA/IDE combo kit is fully compliant with USB 2.0 so you can expect maximum transfer speeds of 480Mbps (yet that never happens) and plug-n-play connectivity with hot-swap support. For the techie, the chipset used in this guy is JMicron-JM20337. With $3 shipping for any order this converter kit to go from USB to SATA/IDE (product page) puts you back exactly $32USD. Takes about 7 days to receive anywhere in the world. Continue Reading

Gefen Launches Wireless USB Solution Based On ExtremeUSB At Infocomm 07

icon extremeusbPress Release – Burnaby BC., June 19, 2007 – Icron Technologies Corporation (TSX Venture: IT), the developers of ExtremeUSB® announced that Gefen Inc, of Woodland Hills, California, has launched a wireless USB 2.0 extender based on Icron’s ExtremeUSB technology at this years InfoComm 07 show in Anaheim, CA from June 19th to the 21st. The Gefen wireless USB extender supports the connection of hi-speed USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices up to 100 feet from the computer. It works with both Apple (OSX) and PC (Windows, Linux) systems using Icron Technologies’ ExtremeUSB based on 802.11g technology. The receiver is a four-port USB hub that can support multiple devices by adding additional hubs. Data can be delivered at high speeds, thanks to optimized circuitry.
“We believe this reliable and wireless method of USB extension will significantly enhance the way systems operate well into the future,” said Hagai Gefen, president and CEO. “Subsequent versions will also support multiple receiver hubs connected to one sender unit, allowing a same time distribution that delivers data real-time with no cables.”
Like most of Gefen’s extender solutions, the wireless USB 2.0 extender uses small sender and receiver units connected to the computer and to the extended USB devices. No cables are needed to link sender to the receiver, which allows connection to cameras, keyboards, printers, hard drives or any USB 2.0 devices at distances up to 100 feet away. Continue Reading

USB Powerline Solution from Icron

Icron brought us the ExtremeUSB technology making it possible to connect via USB from over a mile away, now Icron is bringing us USB over power lines. Not bad, not bad at all.
usb over power line
Integrating Icron’s patented ExtremeUSB technology and Panasonic’s leading edge HD-PLC power line communications devices, the system extends USB 2.0 over standard power lines enabling remote connection of standard USB devices such as keyboards, printers, flash drives, hard drives and web cameras over the AC outlets in your home or office.
“We are excited to once again be able to showcase the flexibility of our ExtremeUSB technology. With the help of Panasonic’s leading edge HD-PLC devices, we have been able to quickly implement our platform to extend USB 2.0 over standard power lines.” stated Robert Eisses, President and CEO of Icron Technologies. ”With power line technology poised to be a major catalyst for converged home network solutions, we are pleased to be working with Panasonic to add USB 2.0 to that picture”.
In case you are scratching your head about the HD-PLC technology, this explanation might help: Power Line Communication (PLC) is a technology that uses power lines to both supply electric power and transmit data. Electricity travels in large, slowly changing waves, while data signals move in small, quickly changing waves. Since these waves travel at different speeds, there is no mutual interference when they travel together. This makes it possible to send data signals through power lines, and access the Internet from power outlets. Original Panasonic HD technology uses this principle to provide the large data transmission capacity and high speed of the HD-PLC Ethernet Adaptor. Continue Reading

Wireless USB Hub from Icron

The WiRanger from Icron is a wireless USB hub making it easier than ever to unclutter your desk and redistribute that crap to the credenza, filing cabinet or your buddies cubical.
“Icron’s flexible ExtremeUSB technology is the engine that enables USB 1.1 or 2.0 connections over any media: wireless, cable, power line or fiber optics.”
so given Icron are experts with USB, jumping into WUSB is a logical move.
WiRanger Icron
What I like about this solution is no software is needed for configuration so Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac users can benefit from this product. The hub uses a USB dongle from the host computer which communicates with the remote hub. Using the 802.11g radio frequency the WiRanger can transfer data up to …well, Icron just says high speed. Speed will be determined by the peripheral product and radio frequency output of about 58Mbps – not the performance of the hub. The range is about 30 meters from base unit to hub unit.  The WiRanger is a 4 port hub and has a set MSRP of $395. Icron said the WUSB hub to be available this spring, which should be any day now. Icron also eludes to other high-end WUSB solutions coming to market for the military, pro-sumer and medical markets in the coming months. Continue Reading

Icron goes for the Wireless ExtremeUSB

Icron Wireless USB ExtremeUSBIcron is the industry standard for extended range USB connectivity. The ExtremeUSB technology from Icron can span 1.2 miles from host to device. Now, Icron is putting their skills to work on WUSB. As with wired USB technology there is high latency in wireless too. Restrictions of bandwidth and variable error rates of wireless media, Icron and ExtremeUSB developed technology Continue Reading

Cypress USB controllers stretch from NY to LA and back again

How far would half a billion USB controllers stretch if laid end-to-end? Try from NY City to Los Angeles and back again. That is how many USB controllers Cypress has shipped since their inception of the USB controller product line in 1997. Fueled by growing consumer demand in USB-enabled applications such as mice, keyboards, hubs, media and video players, mobile phones, mass storage (external hard disk drives & enclosures), set top boxes, photo printers and video capture peripherals, Cypress shipped over 130 million USB controllers in 2005, the most in its history, and is already approaching 600 million units shipped from inception to date. This press release in conjunction with our recent article about USB devices reaching 2.8 billion units by 2010 means GetUSB.info we’ll be busy for a while… Continue Reading

Micron Tech to acquire Lexar Media

Press Release BOISE, Idaho, and FREMONT, Calif., March 8, 2006 – Micron Technology, Inc., (NYSE: MU) and Lexar Media, Inc., (Nasdaq: LEXR) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Micron to acquire Lexar in a stock-for-stock merger. Under terms of the agreement, each outstanding common share of Lexar will receive 0.5625 shares of Micron stock. Micron anticipates issuing shares in exchange for 81.6 million Lexar shares outstanding. Additional Micron shares will be issued upon the exercise of assumed stock options. Continue Reading

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