In message
Jeff Findley wrote:

The Russians just take them outside with the crew on an EVA and deploy
them by hand. The US has this fancy deployment mechanism. I believe
that the Japanese lab module also has a deployment mechanism for
smallsats.

The USA *doesn't* currently have independent capability, they get half
the openings of the Japanese airlock (12 a year limit so 6 available) to
put stuff outside. Smallsat launches have to share with experiments
using the JEM exposed facility which is creating a bottleneck. This new
'airlock' will allow more launches more frequently.

Anthony