Device ID by Manufacturer
Identifying Devices in your Device List
Often it is possible to uniquely identify a device based on the manufacturer in the MAC address. If you see a device made by Amazon, for example, and you know you have only one Amazon device in your network (perhaps an Amazon Echo), you’ll know the device is your Echo. In such cases, you will probably want to assign a more meaningful name than “amazon-c0cfd7809” to the device to make it easy to find later.
Sometimes the manufacturer does not provide an obvious clue to the identity of the device. That happens when the device manufacturer uses someone else’s network interface card and does not put their own manufacturer ID in the MAC address. This is common with older personal computers and many IoT devices.
The list below is only a small sample of the various manufacturers you may encounter on your network. If you see an unrecognized manufacturer, a web search may help determine the type of device using that vendor’s network interface.
Manufacturer: Types of Devices They Produce
Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.: Personal computers (PCs), game consoles, printers
Hui Zhou Gaoshengda Technology Co., Ltd: Smart TVs, media players
Intel Corporate: PCs
LCFC(HeFei) Electronics Technology Co., Ltd: PCs
Microchip Technology Inc.: IoT devices
Micro-Star INT'L Co., Ltd: PCs
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd: Cell phones, TVs, IoT devices
PC Engines GmbH: PCS
Systemtechnik GmbH: PCs
Phoebe Micro Inc.: Network speakers, IoT devices
Qolsys Inc.: Alarm panels
Shenzhen Bilian Electronic Co., Ltd: Network equipment, IoT devices
Tercel Technology Co., Ltd.: IoT devices
Texas Instruments: IOT devices
Universal Global Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd: PCs, IoT devices
In addition to the manufacturer, Island attempts to identify some basic properties of each device by looking at various networking “fingerprints” unique to each type of device. Sometimes the network fingerprint will provide a clue to the identity of the device.
If all other methods fail, another way to positively identify a device is to remove it from the network by powering it off, turn off its Wi-Fi feature, or disconnecting its network cable, and looking to see which device in Island’s device list goes “offline.” Offline devices are identified by a greyed device icon in the device list.