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.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The SkyKey is packed inside a tiny box with product picture at the front.

Both the company and product names are placed at the base of the box.

Along with the SkyKey I you're also getting two wall mount screws and the user manual.

THE SKYKEY I

Measuring just 100mm in length, 59mm in width and 23mm in thickness the SkyKey I is a tiny network device.

On one side of the enclosure we find the two RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports whereas on the other we see the microSD card slot, reset button and the power port (you will need a separate power adapter if you don't have an PoE switch and/or injector).

At the rear we see the SkyKey barcodes, serial number and two wall mounts.

EnGenius also shipped their EAP1250 access point for me to test their SkyKey with (later on i will also measure its performance and add it to the charts).

EZMASTER

The eZMaster is the on-premises network management solution by EnGenius which allows you to locally or remotely manage EnGenius switches and access points.

You can setup the SkyKey either from your smartphone via the EnGenius app or through the web GUI as seen above (safe bet most people will be using this).

First step is to "pair" available EnGenius devices with the SkyKey as seen above (you just need their mac address found on the base of each device).

In order to access the settings of all those devices you also need to place them under a project and so you first need to create that project.

Next stop is for you to add your devices to the project as seen above.

After that you can access each device and setup its settings.

Once you are done and go back to the first tab you will see that the SkyKey I is added.

If you want to check which devices are connected to the EAP1250 you can do so from the active clients option.

Here you can see a quick summary of the EAP1250 after i set it up via the SkyKey I.

ENGENIUS CLOUD

Thanks to the EnGenius Cloud service (https://cloud.engenius.ai/) you can access your SkyKey (and connected devices) from anywhere on the planet.

The dashboard page shows you what devices you have added to the EnGenius Cloud (as you can see nothing is added yet).

Now the first thing you need to do is to access the organization tab from the upper left corner. Here you can either leave it as is or you can add a new organization (for this review i added one named NikKTech).

Next you should access the inventory from the lower left corner (from here you can add/register your SkyKey to/with that organization just by using the serial number).

If you plan on allowing more people to have access to your devices you can increase security by enabling two factor authentication as seen above.

By accessing the organization page, you can see all the devices paired with your SkyKey (in this case the EAP1250).

Now even though by default the EAP1250 i received was not manufactured for the EU (different WiFi safety standards) the EnGenius Cloud correctly detects my country of residence.

CONCLUSION

   The SkyKey I is without doubt a very convenient little tool/device which can act as a centralized server for all your EnGenius devices. This however is also its sole drawback since it's not compatible (and as expected can't be) with 3rd party devices by other network peripheral manufacturers. Still it's very good at what it was designed to do and with support for up to 100 EnGenius switches and access points even a single one has the ability to cover entire businesses. For regular consumers who may want to give it a shot the lack of a power adapter means they also need to have an PoE switch or injector and even though i doubt anyone who didn't have any of the two would need to check a device like the SkyKey I still it's an "extra" requirement.

   With a current price tag set at USD98.75 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 106.85Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the EnGenius SkyKey I is also very affordable, especially if we take into account its primary target audience which is clearly small and medium sized businesses. Long story short the SkyKey I does exactly what it was designed to do and that’s to give you complete remote control over all your EnGenius network devices and since it also happens to be very easy to use it secures our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Size
- Ease Of Use
- Supports Up To 100 EnGenius Switches And AP’s
- PoE & Wall Powered
- Web Browser & Android/iOS App Control
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Compatible Only With EnGenius Devices
- Needs External Power (Adapter Not Included)