INTRODUCTION

   Network related devices may have always piqued my interest since i happen to use them quite a lot both in the office/lab and at home but remote cloud solutions are not something I’ve really needed much, at least not to date that is. Still there's definitely growing interest in remote access and management solutions and what's really intriguing is that this doesn't apply just to professionals but even casual/regular consumers. Because of that several network peripherals manufacturers have started to place extra weight in that segment of the industry lately and so today I’ll be testing a rather unique network device, the SkyKey I Network Management Controller by EnGenius.

   EnGenius Technologies is an industry expert in wireless communications and radio frequency (RF) technology. The company has been around for more than 20 years and is focused on delivering feature-rich, long-range, wireless networking solutions for voice and data that empower mobility.

   The SkyKey I is a small device (100x59x23mm) that acts as a bridge between your EnGenius network peripherals (allows you to quickly setup and control up to 100 switches and access points) and the subscription-free EnGenius Cloud platform. Inside its plastic housing EnGenius has squeezed a Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core ARM Cortex A7 CPU (32bit - 717MHz) together with 1GB of DDR3L RAM, 4GB of MLC NAND flash, single microSD card slot (for backup purposes) and two RJ45 Gigabit ethernet ports (one of which is also PoE 802.3af compatible). So, the SkyKey I is basically an unified/centralized remote control device for EnGenius network peripherals and so what's left is for me to check and see just how effective it is at doing exactly that.