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Troy's PocketPro is a wireless print server with security and management features. Targeted at small organisations with wireless networks, the PocketPro USB Wireless print server connects to a compatible printer using a USB 1.1 connection and allows you to share a printer on either an 802.11b wireless or 10/100Base-TX network. Setting up and configuring the device is relatively quick if you've got networking experience, although you'll more than likely have to tweak the device's default settings to suit your network. Security features are impressive and the print server can be configured and managed from a single location using the browser-based ExtendView utility. However, there's no support for 802.11a/g networks, there are no status LEDs and no parallel port. It's a little expensive too, but could come in very useful for those in environments where network cables are impractical or where the printer tends to be moved frequently.

Pros: Good security options; compatible with HP's Web JetAdmin
Cons: 802.11b only; no status LEDs; no parallel port; expensive

PocketPro (104x32x89mm) is a wireless print server with security features. Targeted at small organisations with wired 10/100Base-TX or wireless 802.11b networks, the PocketPro Wireless print server connects to a compatible printer using a USB 1.1 connection and lets multiple users share a single printer over a network. Wireless print servers are ideal in environments where network cables are impractical or where the printer tends to be moved frequently. A Wi-Fi enabled printer also allows mobile works to print at a distance of up to 100 metres from the printer.

The PocketPro USB Wireless print server has the same capability as the company's PocketPro USB, with the addition of being able to communicate on an 802.11b wireless network. Essentially, the compact device lets you place your USB-equipped printer anywhere within 100 meters of a wireless access point or computer equipped with 802.11b wireless capability.

Once connected to a USB printer, powered using the supplied AC adapter, and then set on top or by the side of your printer (adhesive Velcro strips and rubber feet supplied), you then have to setup the device using the drivers on the bundled CD-ROM. Setting up the PocketPro on our test network (mixed 10/100Base-T and Wi-Fi) and printer (Brother HL-2700CN) was relatively straightforward, although we still needed to have some network information to hand and alter the device's default settings.

The first task is to select wireless modes - either infrastructure (if you are connecting through an access point) or ad-hoc (if you intend to connect straight to the print server). The SSID (service set identifier) for your wireless network then has to be set, followed by the radio frequency of your wireless network. If you intend to use the PocketPro on a TCP/IP network and are not connected to a DCHP server (for obtaining an IP address automatically), you also need to assign a unique IP address. If the PocketPro is not on the same IP subnet as the computers you are printing from, you will also need a subnet mask and a router (default gateway) address. Finally, built-in security features require you to set WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) settings.

A test page can be printed from the device by pressing a dedicated button on the back of the unit itself, although it's worth noting that this can only be done with printers that can directly print PCL, PostScript, or plain text files. Windows' printers, which rasterize files on your PC before printing, do not support the test page utility unless the PostScript option is installed on the PocketPro. For these types of printers, you have to print a job from an application in order to test the printer server-to-printer connection.

There are few different ways of managing the PocketPro USB Wireless print server on a wired or wireless network using one or more utilities supplied on the CD-ROM or Troy's Web site. ExtendView and XAdmin32 work with Windows PCs running TCP/IP or IPX/SPX networks and are used to alter Netware, TCP/IP, AppleTalk and wireless settings. ExtendView Web and WebXAdmin allow you to configure the print server with a standard Web browser, although Opera users should note that the software require Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Those with HP printers will be pleased to know that Troy also provides a Windows-based utility that works transparently with HP's printer management utility, JetAdmin.

The PocketPro USB Wireless supports Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) operation with automatic selection of 1-, 2-, 5.5- and 11Mbit/s speeds, depending on environmental conditions. It handles 802.1x Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) with Tunnelled Transport Layer Security (TTLS), and Open System or Shared Key support with strong Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encoding. With 802.1X EAP, TTLS, WEP, read and write configuration passwords, as well as TCP/IP access control lists, data is relatively safe. Of course, you still get 100Base-TX or 10Base-T network connections for fallback protection in case your wireless network goes down or is not active.

Links:
PocketPro USB Wireless print server data sheet (PDF)