USB-Over-IP

AnywhereUSB Plus is a network-attached USB hub that allows USB peripheral devices to be accessed remotely over a LAN via Ethernet or Wi-Fi—without a locally attached host computer. It uses USB-over-IP technology to create virtual USB connections from host computers (physical or virtual) to USB devices located anywhere on the network.

AW02-G300: 2-port, single Gigabit Ethernet, compact desktop/panel-mount form factor. AW08-G300/W300: 8-port, 10G Ethernet with SFP+, optional Wi-Fi, desktop or rack-mount. AW24-G300/W300: 24-port, dual 10G Ethernet with dual SFP+, optional Wi-Fi, rack-mount with dual redundant power supplies.

Enterprise IT and data centers (connecting USB dongles, storage, and peripherals to virtualized environments like VMware), healthcare (remote USB medical device connectivity), retail (POS peripherals, barcode scanners, receipt printers), industrial (USB instruments and calibration devices), and any environment where USB devices need to be accessed over a network without a locally attached PC.

Yes. AnywhereUSB Plus is specifically designed and tested for virtualized environments including VMware. USB devices appear as if locally attached to virtual machines running on remote hosts.

The host controls the hub. AnywhereUSB Plus extends a USB device to a computer, not the other way around. The AnywhereUSB Manager software runs on a Windows or supported Linux workstation or server, and that computer initiates the connection to a device group on the hub. Once connected, the USB device physically plugged into the hub appears to that computer exactly as if it were plugged directly into a local USB port — and it is owned and managed from that computer.

The hub itself is passive. It does not choose which computer gets a device, and there is no control surface on the hub side that lets you pick which host to drive. Selection always happens from the client side: a computer running the Manager claims a group, uses the device, and releases it. This directionality is the key to understanding what the product can and cannot do.

No. A KVM lets one keyboard, mouse, and monitor switch control between multiple computers — you sit at the KVM and select which host you are driving. AnywhereUSB Plus does the opposite: it takes a USB device connected to the hub and makes it appear locally attached to one computer running the AnywhereUSB Manager, over the network.

There is no “reverse mode.” You cannot plug a keyboard and mouse into the hub and then select, from the hub side, which of several computers to control. The computer is always the one initiating and owning the connection — the hub only presents USB devices to whichever client has claimed them. If the requirement is switching one control surface between many hosts, that is a KVM (or a software control layer), not AnywhereUSB Plus.

No — this is the same directionality limitation as the KVM question. A single USB device on the hub cannot be freely switched by an operator to drive any of several hosts on demand. Two things make this impossible in the way it is usually envisioned:

1. Direction: hosts reach out and claim devices; a device on the hub cannot reach out and pick a host. There is no operator-facing “select which host I’m controlling now” function on the hub.
2. Exclusivity: a device group is held by one client at a time (see Access & Concurrency below). Even setting up per-host switching manually, the device can only be connected to one computer at any given moment, and switching means one client disconnecting and another connecting — not live, on-the-fly operator selection.

For a setup where one control surface needs flexible, switchable control over many hosts, the right tool is a KVM or a software-based control/production layer — not AnywhereUSB Plus.

Yes. AnywhereUSB Plus is designed and tested for virtualized environments including VMware. USB devices connected to the hub appear as locally attached to virtual machines running on remote hosts. Existing VM configurations, applications, and workflows need no changes — the operating system enumerates the device exactly as it would a directly connected peripheral.

Model	Ports	Networking	Best fit
AW02	2	Gigabit Ethernet	Individual workstations, small dev environments
AW08	8	1G/10G Ethernet, SFP+ fiber, optional Wi-Fi, optional LTE (CORE module)	Departmental / shared device pools
AW24	24	Dual 1G/10G Ethernet with bonding/failover, dual SFP+, dual redundant PSU, optional Wi-Fi, optional LTE (CORE module)	Data center / enterprise

All three run on the Digi TrustFence security framework and include a 5-year product warranty plus 1-year Digi LifeCycle Assurance (24×7 Expert Support and Digi Remote Manager Premier).

All models use USB 3.1 Gen 1 (up to 5 Gbps) Type A ports.

AW02: 1x RJ-45 10M/100M/1G Ethernet. AW08 and AW24: 10G Ethernet with SFP+ fiber options. AW24 supports dual Ethernet or dual SFP+ with Ethernet bonding for higher throughput and failover redundancy. Wi-Fi models (W300) add dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac on both 8- and 24-port models.

Windows 7, 8.1, 10, 11; Windows Server 2012-R2, 2016, 2019, 2022; Linux Ubuntu LTS 18.04-24.04; Debian LTS 10-12; Red Hat/AlmaLinux/Rocky LTS 8-9.

Yes. Each USB port or group of ports can be assigned independently to multiple hosts, giving enterprises flexible access control over which computers can use which USB devices.

AW02: 5V/5A max, 25W, 0-40°C. AW08: 12VDC/12A max, 98.5W, 0-55°C (0-40°C on Wi-Fi models). AW24: Dual 100-240VAC redundant supplies, 157.7W, 0-40°C.

No. Access to a USB device is exclusive to one client at a time. If five engineers need the same drive, they take turns — one connects, uses it, and disconnects, and only then can the next person connect. There is no simultaneous shared access to a single device.

The reason is how AnywhereUSB Plus assigns devices. USB ports on the hub are organized into groups, and a client connects to a group, not to an individual port. While one client holds a group, that entire group is locked to that client and unavailable to everyone else until they disconnect. Disconnecting releases the group immediately, with no manual coordination or admin step required — the next user can connect right away.

Because access is granted at the group level, how you organize ports into groups directly controls who can use what. Putting each device in its own group lets different users work on different devices at the same time (each on a separate group); grouping several devices together means whoever holds that group holds all of them. Plan your grouping around how devices need to be shared.

Install AnywhereUSB Manager on the local PC, not the RDP server. Microsoft’s RDP architecture redirects USB devices from the client side into the remote session, not from the server side. With the Manager running on the local PC, the USB device appears locally attached and RDP redirects it into the remote session normally — whether the device is a smart card, RemoteFX token, or WebAuthn key.

All models include Digi TrustFence security: unique password per hub, configurable network service ports, encrypted USB-over-IP traffic (cannot be disabled), WPA3 Wi-Fi security, HTTPS/SSH management access, RADIUS/TACACS+ authentication, MAC address filtering, and VLAN support.

Via Digi Remote Manager (DRM)—a cloud-based platform for device configuration, monitoring, mass updates, and security management. Local management via WebUI (HTTP/HTTPS) and CLI (SSH) is also available.

AW08 and AW24 models include a Digi CORE modem socket for optional plug-in LTE modem modules, enabling cellular backup connectivity.

All data transport between the AnywhereUSB hub and the AnywhereUSB Manager is encrypted with TLS. TLS 1.3 is negotiated by default, with fallback to TLS 1.2; the connection cannot be downgraded below 1.2. Encryption of the USB-over-IP channel is on by default and cannot be disabled.

Authentication is certificate-based and requires no manual key exchange in the standard setup. Each hub is assigned a unique password, and each Manager instance is assigned a unique Client ID. When a Client ID is registered on both the hub and the Manager, a matching certificate is generated automatically between the two — nothing has to be manually loaded on either side for encrypted, authenticated connections to work.

A note on TrustFence: TrustFence is Digi’s device-level security framework (secure boot, protected storage, device identity, controlled firmware updates). It is not the mechanism that encrypts USB-over-IP traffic — that is the TLS transport described above. The two are separate: TLS secures the connection; TrustFence secures the device.

AnywhereUSB Plus is CMVP-validated to FIPS 140-3. Digi completed validation under the NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program in April 2026, and AnywhereUSB is included in that validation. FIPS mode is enabled through configuration — no specialized SKU is required.

For regulated environments, AnywhereUSB Plus supports customers subject to PCI-DSS and HIPAA. All USB-over-IP traffic is encrypted and authenticated by default, and access is controlled per client at the group level, giving customers the validated cryptography and access controls needed to meet those requirements.

5-year product warranty—best-in-class for network-attached USB hubs.

All AnywhereUSB Plus models include 1 year of Digi LifeCycle Assurance (LCA), which includes 24x7 expert support with 4-hour SLA and Digi Remote Manager Premier. LCA extensions of 1-4 years are available (SKUs DIGI-IM-LCA-1YR-EXT through DIGI-IM-LCA-4YR-EXT).

The 5-year hardware warranty covers device defects and is included with the hardware purchase. LifeCycle Assurance (LCA) is a separate annual subscription that provides 24x7 expert technical support, 4-hour SLA, and Digi Remote Manager Premier for device management and monitoring. These are separate and complementary benefits.