Belkin Components, the leading manufacturer of Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity products, today introduced its new USB 2.0 4-port hub. Designed with a USB 2.0 chipset from NEC Corporation (NEC) (NASDAQ: NIPNY), the Belkin USB 2.0 4-port hub (F5U221) offers unparalleled performance and the ability to support high-speed devices of up to 480Mbps. Introduced to complement the Belkin USB 2.0 PCI Card (announced earlier this month), the Belkin USB 2.0 4-port hub allows the connection of up to 4 high speed USB 2.0 devices to a USB 2.0 port and up to a total of 127 devices overall. The USB 2.0 4-port hub is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 devices, while a combination of USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices can be connected simultaneously. The hub features intelligent power management that automatically detects when the hub is bus-powered or powered by the included wall adapter. The Belkin USB 2.0 4-port hub uses the same connectors and cabling model of the USB 1.1 standard. It also offers the same ease-of-use features of the USB 1.1 standard, such as plug-and-play installation, so the user will not see a change in the usage model. They will, however, benefit from being able to use an additional range of high-speed, high-bandwidth peripherals such as video-conferencing cameras, next generation scanners, cameras, printers and mass storage devices.

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