MWSF: Icron offers ‘extreme’ USB

This week at Macworld San Francisco, Icron Systems is displaying what it describes as “the world’s only USB-IF-certified extension technology” that lets USB devices interface with your Mac from up to 330 feet away.

The folks at Icron say its USB Ranger products are great for things like placing a Webcam exactly where you need it or for locating USB speakers anywhere you’d like. The basic USB Ranger 100, which supports one low-power device or one high-power device such as a Web cam, has a manufacturers suggested retail price of US $249. The USB Ranger is part of Icron’s ExtremeUSB products and technologies that extend the reach of USB peripherals.

The set-up is “dead simple,” Alan Morgan of Icron told MacCentral. The Ranger has two boxes, the Local Extender (LEX) and the Remote Extender (REX). The LEX sits by your Mac, plugs into an AC outlet, and connects to your USB host port. The REX sits where you want your USB device to be and has a USB port on it. The LEX and the REX are to be connected with up to 100 meters of standard Category 5 cable. (USB products normally have a range of five meters.)

Offices can use an available, straight-through Cat5 cable (the same wiring used in Ethernet) that’s already installed. There are no software or drivers to be loaded. The Ranger is transparent to the OS and the user, according to Morgan.

“They’re really ideal for a number of apps,” he added. “Especially biometrics, security, and Webcamming. And peripherals like printers, scanners, and cameras can now be positioned in critical locations for business applications.”