We have staff who travel all over the world to places such as Rwanda, DRC using laptops. Currently they use Notebook Travel Surge Protectors. Some of our offices have been hit by lightning - and this has damaged Ethernet devices. My question is - do our roving staff need portable Ethernet lightning protection as well? And can anyone recommend a suitable device. Thanks
3 Answers
If that's a genuine concern then I'd certainly consider giving your people cheapo USB-to-ethernet adapters that they can use as spares. They're cheap, easy to get and probably lighter/smaller too.
Stick with the big boys, Belkin, Trip-Lite, APC etc... Some of the smaller surge protectors also include RJ11+RJ-45 protection as well.
To determine how much you should spend, do a quick Risk assessment/ROI analysis.
Another option to consider would be a miniature wap. I have one that has it's own travel case. You can plug it into a wired interface and it'll broadcast wireless, you can set it up with encryption, and since it's totally separate from the laptop it'll shield it from damage and if it does get fried you can replace that without their laptop being damaged.
These mini-units also have the ability to reverse the connection; that is, in a wireless environment, it'll take the wireless and feed it to a wired connection, if for some unknown reason you're in that situation.
I've found it handy in several occasions while traveling. I don't know how easy these are to come by now, but mine is a 3COM OfficeConnect wireless 54 Mbps 11g Travel Router, if you're looking for a reference point of what I'm talking about.
answered Jan 24, 2011 at 14:03
