Intel Unveils USB 3.0 Proposal

Intel has taken the wraps off a proposal for USB 3.0, offering up to 10 times the bandwidth of USB 2.0, along with low power requirements and backward compatibility.

If you’re starting to think your files are getting too big to readily transfer to hard drives or other devices, chipmaker Intel has you mind. At the company’s Developer Forum opening today in San Francisco, the company announced a partnership to develop a “superspeed” version of USB—USB 3.0—offering up to 10 times the bandwidth of current USB 2.0 implementations. In theory, USB 3.0 could support bandwidth in excess of 300 MB/s; what’s more, USB 3.0 will be designed to offer backward compatibility with existing USB solutions and be optimized for low power usage.

Intel is partnering with Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, NEC, NXP Semiconductors, and Texas Instruments to develop the specification; they expect to have the details ironed out by mid-2008.

“USB 3.0 is the next logical step for the PC’s most popular wired connectivity,” said Jeff Ravencraft, technology strategist with Intel and president of the USB Implementers Forum, in a statement. “The digital era requires high-speed performance and reliable connectivity to move the enormous amounts of digital content now present in everyday life. USB 3.0 will meet this challenge while maintaining the ease-of-use experience that users have come to love and expect from any USB technology.”

Although the technology will be backward compatible with existing USB solutions, taking advantage of all the new bandwidth possibilities will apparently require not only new chipsets, but new cabling: USB cables with embedded optical links and a maximum length of about two meters.