USB on steroids: version 3.0 promises 4.8Gbps

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 18 November 2008 00:56

Your IT - Home IT

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has completed the USB 3.0 specification, dubbed SuperSpeed USB, which will transfer data between devices at 4.8Gbps, ten times faster than the current 2.0 specification.

The group demonstrated SuperSpeed USB this week at the first SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference in San Jose, California. It says the first SuperSpeed USB devices should appear in 2010 following availability of the initial SuperSpeed USB discrete controllers in the second half of 2009.

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, formed in September 2007, http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14523/53/ comprises Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, ST-NXP Wireless and Texas Instruments. It has now transferred management of the specification to the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the managing body of USB specifications.

The Group is now accepting adopters of the USB 3.0 specification. The specification and the adopter agreement are available on the USB web site.

The USB 1.0 specification was introduced in 1996 and the first Apple iMac computer launched in 1998, was the first computer to offer USB ports.