Kanex says their DualRole is a “perfect companion for laptop users who need additional USB 3.0 ports for instant connection to peripherals and to connect to a secure wired network using Gigabit Ethernet simultaneously.” It’s especially useful for those who have the tiny laptops (Windows or Mac) that sacrifice the number of USB ports for a smaller size. If your USB devices need extra power, you can add a power supply to the DualRole. It offers hot-swappable plug-and-play ports, and it is “compliant with Universal Serial Bus Specification Ver. 3.0 (Data Rate 5Gbps)”. It is IEEE 802.3, 802.3u, 802.3ab and 802.3az (10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T) compatible and supports both full-duplex with flow control and half-duplex with backpressure operation. It’s $59.99, and if you order before 10/31/13, you’ll receive a free universal power adapter ($19 value).
