Sharing USB devices easily

Network World - The scoop: Four-port USB Net ShareStation (model GUIP204), by Iogear, about $85.

What it is: This handy little device is designed to connect to your home router or a switch (either wired or wireless) and as many as four different USB-enabled devices. With the ShareStation connected to the router, any PC on the home network can access those USB-enabled devices from anywhere on the network. The ShareStation supports USB printers (including multifunction printers), Webcams, speakers and external storage drives.

Why it's cool: I've been looking for a way to share a multifunction printer that I own with multiple PCs within my home, and some of the network-attached storage (NAS) devices that I'm testing won't support the multifunction printers with their print servers. With the ShareStation, it was very easy to connect it to an open port on my switch (connected to my wireless router), and then attach the multifunction printer and an external storage drive to the ShareStation. The real selling point is that I can work upstairs on my notebook and wirelessly print to the multifunction printer without worrying about setting up the printer as a network printer or shared printer or any of that junk. In the eyes of my PC, the printer is sitting right next to me instead of downstairs next to the router.

Having support for an external storage drive also turns those drives into an inexpensive NAS device -- multiple users can access the USB drive for copying files or backing up their systems. And the support for USB Webcams means you can create a "security" system by attaching the USB Webcam to the ShareStation and watch the camera from somewhere else on the home network.

Some caveats: The setup was a bit wonky -- I had to install/reinstall once before the system recognized everything. In addition, each PC that needs to access the USB devices needs the Iogear client software and driver for the ShareStation. In addition, they will need any USB device driver software, such as the printer drivers or the USB Webcam software.

The other major point is that the system does not support concurrent multiple users. If one PC is "connected" to the printer, a second PC cannot use that device until the first user "disconnects". This is different than a NAS box or network printer, in which multiple users can access the device at the same time. But at least this method is easier to set up.

Also, there are different methods for accessing the ShareStation depending on whether you're using a Windows XP or Vista system. On XP, you use client software to access the device; on Vista, you have to open the "network" window, then choose the specific device. Disconnecting from the USB device on the ShareStation also requires a few steps -- when you disconnect from the hard drive, for example, you have to remember to do the "safely remove hardware" action in Windows first, then access the "disconnect" menu. Finally, I would have liked to see Macintosh support (at least for the printer and storage drive), so my wife's Mac can access these USB devices (maybe a firmware update will fix that, fingers crossed).

Grade: four stars (out of five)