New Year

What was and what will be. Review and outlook with ICY BOX®.

The past year was not like any other. The Corona pandemic had a significant impact on our lives. From a company perspective, 2021 was also a special year. Supply shortages, raw material shortages and the pandemic challenges affected our actions. Despite these circumstances, we again managed to provide our customers with proven and new ICY BOX® products in 2021.

 

The customer in focus

As usual, the focus was on the customer. We were able to compensate for higher prices for the development and production of our docking stations, storage enclosures, etc. by optimizing the process chain, and thus offer our customers consistently low prices. During product development, we paid attention to pronounced compatibility for the home office, as this aspect has become the focus of attention, especially due to the pandemic circumstances. This push towards mobile and more flexible working will continue to have a major influence on our product portfolio in the future.

 

Developments in DockingStations

We have successfully expanded our portfolio of docking stations with the IB-DK2251AC, IB-DK2252AC, IB-DK2254AC and IB-DK2241AC models. Here, we have placed the emphasis on connectivity and implemented a wide range of connection options in order to be prepared for even the most demanding requirements in home office. If you value a functional and flexible workstation, you can't do without a docking station like the one from ICY BOX®. Thus, we always offer the possibility to connect several monitors with the host computer to enable effective working. A range of peripherals can be connected via the other ports according to modern standards, such as USB Type-C®, so that no comfort has to be renounced in everyday working life.

The IB-DK2241AC docking station is the perfect basis for users who simply want to expand their connection options and connect, for example, a monitor via DVI or HDMI. Here, we rely on the widely used USB Type-A port as the host connection.
	For more sophisticated demands, the IB-DK2251AC and IB-DK2252AC docking stations offer an extra in display resolution. You can connect two monitors at an excellent 4K resolution via the HDMI connections, or alternatively via DisplayPort in the case of the IB-DK2252AC. The current USB Type-C standard is used as the host connection here.
If you use many different applications in parallel, the IB-DK2254AC docking station is the right choice. 3 monitors can be connected via HMDI or DisplayPort. Thanks to Power Delivery the USB-C host connection also allows charging laptops and more with up to 100 watts. Thus, the work device is always optimally charged.
	Flexible storage enclosures for NVMe Anyone who regularly changes their workplace, for example commuting between home office and office, needs a compact and secure solution for data transport. Here we have established a high-quality enclosure for M.2 NVMe SSDs with the IB-1817 series, which we are constantly developing further. In addition to the fast data transfer with up to 10 Gbit/s, we also focused on easy handling during the development. That is why we have developed a enclosure in which the memory can be replaced quickly and easily without tools - in other words, "toolless". This makes everyday work between the office, home office and business trip much easier.

 

What's next: Thunderbolt™ 4

Of course, we will continue to improve our existing products in the future and constantly develop new solutions that make work more individual and effective. In doing so, we always keep an eye on technical developments. Thus, our new docking stations will also rely on Thunderbolt™ 4 technology. Thunderbolt™ 4 offers several improvements over the previous version. For example, the minimum PCIe data requirement has been increased to 32 Gbit/s, which means a faster transfer rate for memory or external graphics. Security has also been improved with VT-d based DMA protection. The gaming sector will benefit from Thunderbolt™ 4 as well. Especially in combination with a docking station, the gaming setup can deliver more performance here.

So you can be curious about what is going to happen in our product range in 2022. We are optimistic that once again we will set trends in product development that will excite customers and achieve one or two sales hits. So start the new year with fresh energy and stay healthy.

Your team from ICY BOX®