FirmTek Intros eSATA Combo Hub

• By David Nagel
• 04/16/08

At the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas this week, FirmTek debuted a new combo hub designed to bring eSATA connectivity to laptops. The SeriTek/SpyderHUB includes USB and FireWire host connection options, along with hardware RAID and boot capabilities for Mac OS X systems.

The SpyderHUB sports two eSATA ports for connecting to eSATA-based external enclosures, as well as two FireWire 800 ports and a USB port for connecting to host systems. When connected to a Mac via FireWire, the hub allows eSATA enclosures to be used for booting.

Other features include:

• Sharing between multiple computers;
• Support for FireWire daisychaining;
• FireWire 400 support via optional adapter;
• Bus power or optional power adapter;
• Built-in hardware RAID support; and
• Auto negotiation between 3.0 Gbps and 1.5 Gbps SATA drives.

The SeriTek/SpyderHUB is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2008 and will support Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It will support all SATA enclosures except port multipliers. Further information is available at FirmTek's site here.

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About the Author

David Nagel is editorial director, education for 1105 Media's Public Sector Media Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal. A 22-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.

He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEJournalDave (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).