Recently released USB 3.0 technology will increase the speed tenfold!

Majority of modern gadgets connect to the computer via USB cable. For nearly 13 years this port has been standard for all external devices. When USB was introduced in 1995, it became clear that this port would replace all those big and bulky connectors that were used in the past. Data exchange speed was growing with every generation: from 12 Mbps in USB 1.1 to 480 Mbps in USB 2.0. Nevertheless, as time goes by, bigger and bigger speeds are needed. Therefore, after 8 years of reigning, USB 2.0 must be replaced with something more modern and powerful, and this new successor will be USB 3.0, which is already developed and soon will be widely supported by hardware developers. What advantages it brings? Let us see.

USB 2.0 was named Hi-Speed, and it surely is quite fast. USB 3.0, however, truly deserves its title Superspeed, because it strongly overlaps the speed of its predecessor! New USB 3.0 devices will exchange data with speed up to 4.8 Gbps, which is ten times bigger than USB 2.0. Another big advantage of new USB port is its ability to receive and send data simultaneously, which is a no-go for previous USB generations. New USB 3.0 will keep the downward compatibility with all previous USB versions, so do not worry if your device will not support USB 3.0 - it will work with it anyways, at supported speed.

New generation of USB connectors opens a wide field of possible adaptation. Speed up to 4.8 Gbps will be enough for HD video and audio signal broadcast, with such speed there will be no more "bottleneck" effect, when USB 2.0 speed is limiting the performance of external devices, such as portable HDDs or external optical drives. The cable will be a bit thicker though, but this cannot be really considered as disadvantage. In any case, small increase in thickness is reasonable for such big increase of speed. There are images of new USB 3.0 connectors, including redesigned miniUSB and USB 3.0 type B. (click to enlarge)

USB 3.0 technology

USB 3.0 technology

Intel provides first specs of its USB 3.0 host controller

Aiming to prove it doesn't actually want USB 3.0 all for itself Intel has now made available the 0.9 draft specs of the Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) which is set to be used for the upcoming SuperSpeed USB architecture. This specification describes the registers and data structures used to interface between system software and the USB 3.0-compatible hardware currently in the works and is a vital thing for the quickly deployment of the USB 3.0 standard which is set to offer maximum transfer speed of 4.7 Gb/s.

"The future of computing and consumer devices is increasingly visual and bandwidth intensive," said Phil Eisler, AMD corporate vice president and general manager of the Chipset Business Unit. "Lifestyles filled with HD media and digital audio demand quick and universal data transfer. USB 3.0 is an answer to the future bandwidth need of the PC platform. AMD believes strongly in open industry standards, and therefore is supporting a common xHCI specification."

As previously promised, the xHCI specs are offered for free but only to members of the USB 3.0 Promoter Group and contributor companies that sign an xHCI contributor agreement. A revised xHCI 0.95 specification is also in the works and will be released in Q4.

Intel said to be unwilling to share USB 3.0 toys

Intel's apparently not too keen on other chipset makers building USB 3.0 - aka SuperSpeed USB - into their products. To that end, one website claims, the chip giant's not sharing its toys.

According to a story over at Fudzilla, it's being whispered around Taipei among the vendors gathered for Computex, that "at this time you cannot expect any USB 3.0 designs based on Intel's reference spec design from anyone but Intel".

The article's implication is clear: Intel is keeping all this stuff to itself for competitive advantage.

We'd say it's really too soon to say. For starters, the USB 3.0 specification isn't done and dusted yet - though it's due "mid-2008", according to past Intel prognostications.

The SuperSpeed USB roadmap

The timetable for the technology then calls for product development - chips that support the interconnect, and devices that'll use them to control ports - to run through well into 2009, with the first products going on sale round about that time.

USB 3.0 at the socket...

Widespread adoption of the technology isn't expected until 2010.

...and the connector

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