News
USB 3.0 will double its speed
Jan
From the USB 3.0 Promoter Group comes interesting news about the development of an upgrade to SuperSpeed USB (better known as USB 3.0), especially focused on storage applications and higher data transfer speeds in high definition video and audio.
A new USB 3.0 technology that will double its data rate to 10Gbps (the same as Thunderbolt) is expected to hit the market in mid-2013.
One of the great advantages is that this development will not affect older cables and connectors by maintaining compatibility with current systems. Both software, device protocols, as well as today’s existing 5Gbps and new 10Gbps USB 3.0 hubs will be fully compatible.
Intel and Microsoft have committed to evolve to this 10Gbps delivery on their platforms, and also maintain compatibility of existing USBs, thus meeting the demand for low-cost, high-performance solutions.
Data encoding has also been improved to achieve greater transfer efficiency and provide much higher throughput at both input and output.
USB technology continues to be one of the most widely used technologies for data delivery through computers and consumer electronics, so this development group (USB 3.0 Promoter Group) wanted to look ahead and provide its customers with all possible improvements in this connectivity.
Throughout the forums there are discussions about what this new USB 3.0 will entail and whether it is coming to replace Thunderbolt technology. There are those who say that the system on which it is based is more unstable than Thunderbolt; those who believe that it will work very well as a standard cable due to the combined price and speed; those who believe that it will only serve for peripherals such as hard drives but not for other more advanced devices because there will be a difference in performance; and those who believe that it will be a good option that will coexist with Thunderbolt.
As I mentioned, the new USB 3.0 is scheduled to arrive in the middle of this year (or even in the first quarter), but to learn more about its virtues, shortcomings and market entry we will have to wait.
