Thunderbolt Hubs and docking stations

It's true that any TB device could have its own power, but, like both USB and Firewire (and even PoE), bus power is a useful feature, and running out of it is a concern in daisy chains. Small disk enclosures (and similarly-sized devices, such as A/V interfaces) become less convenient to use and more expensive to manufacture when they have a power connector as well as a (or two) TB connector(s). The situation with bus power on Thunderbolt is no different in principle from USB and Firewire: hubs supply more current without extra AC adapters (and wire clutter).

Interestingly, Firewire hubs never became prevalent, and, probably for the same reasons, powered Thunderbolt hubs won't, either. But it's not hard to imagine some interest in these devices.

The idea of a Thunderbolt hydra cable (i.e., an unpowered hub) is very attractive. As this topic suggests, there would probably be a large demand for it.

TB delivers 10W per port, (more than double that of USB2) clearly not enough for 7 hard drives, but enough for 2 and a few low powered accessories (currently none exist). Whether by Hub or Daisy Chain extra power will be needed. 10W is also insufficient to drive optical cable so expect the spec to be revised at some time (s)

USB2 4.5W

TB 10W

POE 30W

FW 40W

(All the above is per port)

The Sunix Thunderbolt Dock specs and appearance seem to have changed:

http://www.sunix.com.tw/itpd.php?cid=2&kid=2&gid=5&pid=1630

It is still "coming soon"!

Well I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one looking for thunderbolt hubs. Just purchased a

27 inch with only two Thunderbolt ports and I'm out of luck at using my 800 Firewire equipment. Been looking for a device that has at least 4 thunderbolt ports, nobody thinks that this is a good idea this is really unbelievable! I'm really not interested in a hub that has all these whistles and bells like microphones etc. don't need it, all I would like is more Thunderbolt ports.

All I am very disappointed in Apple for leaving out at least one 800 port and for not supporting or manufacturing hubs for Thunderbolt. I have a lot of external drives that are now running on USB instead of firewire. I would agree with all the previous statements that Thunderbolt is a ThunderBomb! I purchased the Apple adapter plug for Thunderbolt and some devices don't work problem when plugged into it.

Not Happy

The Belkin Thunderbolt Hub is available now, and it has what you mentioned (much more in fact)

I was just at Bulkin's site an review the hub a really nice piece of equipment. It would be a very expensive price to pay and only gain one 800 Firewire port. Again you only get two thunderbolt ports so I gain nothing. I'm not sure if I could plug a 800 Firewire hub in to another hub (Thunderbolt) that my problem. I do video work and hae three HD using ports. Two on thunderbolt (with only one port, Lacie mistake & mine) and two on 800 FW, ADVCi/o for inporting VHS video. The mistake I made was purchaseing Lacie Drives with only one port. This is something people need to be aware of when you see sales on HD!! Anyway thanks for the come back. By the way LaCie puts these odd USB ports on there drives which makes things more interesting. laCie may go by the wayside soon.

Thanks

Thunderbolt is a daisy chain system, 2 ports = 14 devices, how many do you need?

All drives (maybe all devices) should have 2 TB ports or the whole chain idea doesn't work.

I bought a Belkin a few weeks ago, it is a nice hub.

The problem with the daisy chain theory is that, unlike Firewire, where the vast majority of things that you could plug in really did have two FW connectors, there are a lot of TB devices that don't, and, therefore, consume a port. Examples are: (1) Apple's $29 Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter (nice product, but it consumes the TB port) and (2) virtually any mini-displayport adapter (necessary if you want to plug a monitor into your Air's single TB port).

We need hubs (both powered and not)! And we need devices that daisy-chain by having at least two TB ports (and the necessary functionality).

The situation is understandable for bleeding-edge new technology, but we're over two years since the first TB products were announced. And virtually every vendor of a TB product was many months later than their initial target release date. The situation is abysmal, sorry to say.

Yes, that's why I said this:

All drives (maybe all devices) should have 2 TB ports or the whole chain idea doesn't work.

In the post you replied to.

As for this:

The situation is understandable for bleeding-edge new technology, but we're over two years since the first TB products were announced. And virtually every vendor of a TB product was many months later than their initial target release date. The situation is abysmal, sorry to say.

As Intel hold the licensing rights (it's their product) complain to them, maybe they will approve products faster.

Absolutely correct that as many devices as possible should have two ports, or daisy chain doesn't happen.

Re Intel holding things up, if they are, I'd have to say I've never seen behavior like that from them or anyone else (well, maybe from AT&T and Apple ...). It really looks more like engineering/manufacturing issues than licensing from where I sit, but if you know something not widely known, then maybe you're right.

The tech requirements for the licensing are rightfully high (10Gb over copper is not so simple) and this is just the beginning (target speed is 100Gb) Intel dont need cheap junk being sold under the brand name. The current speed was recently raised to 20Gb/s so the bar goes up.

cpage wrote:

I agree sportingclay, it is rather odd that no manufaturer has made a TB Hub. 1 in 4 out. A simple Powered Hub.

5 cables all gathered in one place as opposed to 1 cable connecting devices where you want them to be?

It should be possible to use both, if all devices have 2 ports that requirement can be met (FYI there is no upstream or downstream in a TB system, no need for a 1 x 4 when a 5 will do the same thing)

I very much doubt that an 'inexpensive' hub that can meet TB requirements will arrive until Intel produce a single chip solution, development and fabrication costs for that chip will be high so more vendors will be needed to drive pricing down (assuming there is enough uptake) USB3 will suffice for many users because of its price advantage.