14 DAY TRIAL // Creating a cost-effective home or office computer network is a very important topic nowadays, and for this reason, Japanese company Planex has come up with a couple of devices that will enable network administrators to cut costs by enabling multiple users on a network to share the same USB ports and SD memory card readers. The accessories in question, namely MZK-SNG02US and MZK-SNG02U, act as some sort of interface between the storage medium (whether we're talking about an USB flash drive or an SD memory card) and the whole network.
The two devices provide roughly the same level of functionality, with a minor difference, namely the fact that the MZK-SNG02US comes equipped with an USB port and an SD memory card reader, while the MZK-SNG02U packs 2 x USB 2.0 interfaces.
According to the company, both of their network accessories adhere to the IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T, Auto MDI / MDI-X standards and support the SMB, FTP, UPnP protocols.
Moreover, they support up to 8 FTP users or 8 Samba users at a time, while the flash drives/USB HDDs connected to them can support storage capabilities up to 2TB (the same goes for the cards, obviously).
The devices also deliver DLNA media server functionality for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 consoles connected to the network (the same goes for the all the other DLNA-compatible devices that can access the same network wirelessly).
Plus, the SD card model also enables a fast backup function (saving photos at a touch of a button in a pre-selected location on the network), while both of them will only take up a limited amount of space, since they measure 72.5 (W) × 25 (H) × 60 (D) mm and weigh roughly 62g (body only).
Last, but certainly not least, it's interesting to mention that both devices are not exactly extremely expensive, selling for around 8,000 Japanese Yen (95 US dollars).