Docking Station

Docking stations are commonly used to connect laptops and other portable devices to peripherals such as printers, storage drives, and speakers. The new trend is away from the home and office environment and into your car, boat, motorcycle, and recreation vehicles. Some models allow hot swapping and some require the power to be off or require the system to be in standby to connect.
Another type of docking station is the port replicators. This allows the notebook user to connect to printers via a parallel port, USB device, ethernet, sound, and video (VGA and DVI) at a reasonable price. Port replicators can supply DC power and some have converters to enable you to use European voltages if you travel.
There's quite a market for the mobile docking stations these days. Law enforcement has cut hours of endless paperwork by processing reports right at the scene instead of at a PC at the station. They can now run my expired tags and issue me a slip, sending me on my way in record time. That's great!
Of course, MIL-STD has recommended specifications for the mobile docking station manufacturers. MIL-STD 810E and 810F were developed in conjunction with the Department of Defense and other government agencies which involve testing materials and components to insure they function in various environmental conditions. This would include variations in temperature, vibration, humidity, and impact. There are more tests but we get the idea. For a manufacturer to sell their docking stations and stands to the military and public safety departments, these devices must prove they can withstand difficult to dangerous operating conditions without failure.
Several companies offer the mobile docking stations with anti-theft devices but I'm still all for locking the equipment in the trunk.