How SEH Technology Gets a) USB Headsets to Plug into b) Virtual Servers for c) Speech-Recognizing Apps

Featured article by Ellen Muraskin, Independent Technology Author

Here’s what the customer wanted: something that would let them connect the USB headsets worn by air traffic controllers-in-training to the PCs running their air traffic control simulation software. Since the human interface was speech recognition and simulations run in real time, orders barked through the headset had to land on those PCs in under 25 ms. The other problem? They wanted to run that software on virtual Windows 10 machines. Being virtual, those PCs had no physical USB ports in which to plug those headsets.

Here’s what SEH Technology, makers of USB-to-IP device servers, did in response: They made one more category of USB devices remotely controllable over the network:  Streaming devices such as video cameras, sound cards, or headsets.   This required adding the last remaining piece of the USB specification — isochronous transfer mode — to its high-end myUTN and industrial INU lines of USB device servers.

SEH Technology’s myUTN-2500 and industrial INU-100 have been used until now to virtually extend the USB cable to the far reaches of the WAN or VLAN, permitting remote access and control of USB devices such as external storage, printers, meters or sensors over the network.  In providing physical USB ports, they have also made it possible to operate such devices through virtual machines running on VMware, XenServer or other virtualization platforms.

In adding support for streaming, SEH opens its market to a completely new customer base, according to Jörg Hecke, Product Marketing Manager at SEH. He expects it to appeal particularly to integrators in the security and A/V spaces and to those seeking the cost savings of virtualization and cloud migration in testing, measuring and development environments.

The new firmware version 14.5.5 and SEH UTN Manager 3.1.7, with isochronous transfer added, are now available for free download on www.seh-technology.com.

About SEH USB Device Servers
USB device servers take the USB transmission signal of an end device and send it over IP to any computer in the company or on the network, just as if that device were directly connected over a typical five-foot cable.  In so doing, they enable expensive hardware resources — such as  USB dongles or any other USB device — to be accessed by multiple users taking turns from multiple locations, and by virtual machines.

About Isochronous Transfer Mode
Isochronous transfer mode transfers USB data packets at a constant minimum rate of speed, necessary for the jitter-free transmission of sound or video. With this addition, SEH makes it possible to extend remote operation of such devices as non-networked USB video cameras.

About SEH Technology
SEH Technology is the U.S. subsidiary of SEH Computertechnik GmbH, a network solutions innovator primarily in the licensed software/USB management and printing sectors. Founded in 1986 as a custom software and technology company, SEH has evolved to offer professional and secure network solutions for all types of businesses across a variety of industries. Current clients include BlackBag Technologies, MicroWorks and Flexera Software.

All SEH Technology products are developed and produced at the company’s headquarters in Bielefeld, Germany. U.S. headquarters are located in Phoenixville, PA, with offices and partners across Europe, Asia and North America. To learn more, visit www.seh-technology.com, call 610-933-2088 or follow the company on Facebook or Twitter.