14 DAY TRIAL // The Thunderbolt interface continues to trudge on, with only Apple and Intel backing it, but while the progress of the technology is slow, it is also quite steady, leading to the creation of things like the newest product from Akitio.
Said product is a Thunderbolt Docking station, which bears the fairly apt and straightforward name of Akitio Thunder Dock.
It looks rather like a portable drive or drive enclosure, but we assure you it is none of those things, even if it had been interesting to have a hybrid device (HDD/SSD + TB docking support).
Then again, there are some unnecessary but not unwelcome features that bring the dock close to hybrid status: things besides thunderbolt.
Instead of providing a couple of TB ports, for daisy-chaining, and leaving it at that, Akitio also implemented a pair of eSATA connectors, two USB 3.0 ports and one FireWire 800.
The eSATA can reach 6 Gbps throughput, while the USB 3.0 attains 5 Gbps and FireWire 800 reaches 800 Mbps.
The two Thunderbolt ports enable the connection to the PC and to daisy-chain six more TB devices, whatever they may be.
The other connectors allow for other gadgets to be plugged in, other portable storage devices. Basically, the Akitio Thunder Dock doubles as USB 3.0, eSATA and FireWire 800 docking station.
The only drawback we can see, which might not even be considered such depending on your view, is that the top speed of the Thunderbolt technology is of 10 Gbps. Akitio chose not to implement the newer and better Thunderbolt 2 interface, which attains 20 Gbps.
That said, the Akitio Thunder Dock should be available for the price of $269 / €269. It might seem high, but there are lots of different ports here, and the aluminum case is supposed to be rugged and scratch-resistant too.
Not that it matters. People likely to buy such a thing are those who own many different storage units, or have friends who do and, thus, probably have more than enough money to spend on such nonessential electronics.