USB 3.0 on the way

Intel has announced details of USB 3.0, the next generation of the universal serial bus interface.

Nicknamed SuperSpeed USB, USB 3.0 is expected to hit the market in 2010 and will be capable of transferring data at a rate of up to 4.8Gbps, well in excess of USB 2.0 speeds.

Intel's announcement was supported by other industry giants such as Microsoft, Dell and NEC. Even rival chipmaker AMD is behind the new interface.

"Lifestyles filled with HD media and digital audio demand quick and universal data transfer," said Phil Eisler of AMD.

"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 specification," Eisler continued.

USB 1.1 was the first USB standard in widespread use, designed to replace parallel, serial and P/S2 ports, used for connecting devices such as printers, keyboards and mice.

USB 2.0 first came to the market in 2001 and offered data-transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps, well in excess of USB 1.1's 12Mbps.

The new standard, when it arrives, will be backwards-compatible with older versions.

www.intel.com