USB 2, it’s hard for me to say this; for years you’ve been real good for us. Your name is as common as Apple Pie, but your services are no longer required… USB 3 get in here. 

USB 3 is being prepped right now. The USB plug we use now is not the same as the USB 3 plug; with v3 the plugs will be shaped differently, but it will be backward compatible and will retain its standard Plug and Play feature. 

It’s reportedly going to be divided into two parts. The first part will be the USB 2.0 four-wire version with UTP data pair and power with ground; to be backward compatible. The second part will have five connections: two UTP lane (one is uplink and the other is downlink) with a ground. An optical connector and cable will be available in the future; for the high speed transfers.

Break down: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/09/ces_usb_3_revealed/
 

USB 2 is the industry standard. There are over 2 billion of USB devices being connected every day. Everyone is going to benefit from this update. When it comes down to it, the major improvement everyone is clamoring for is the speed. USB 3 is reported as saying it will transfer at speeds of 4.8 Gbps [ten times faster than current standard] and outperform IEEE1394 FireWire as well; that’s 25 GB in about 70 seconds. With speeds like this keep an eye out for a slew of high end external devices; not excluding LCD monitors powered by USB.

The cables are going to be different internally. It’s going to do this by mixing copper and fiber optic wiring to the new spec. The target of 5 Gbps places USB 3.0 above current eSATA (3 Gbps) by default, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, NXP Semiconductors, Microsoft, and Texas Instruments are all listed as supporters of ‘SuperSpeed USB’ [USB 3]. The new version will be able to power more than 4 devices at a time and offer more power to those devices who need it; from about 100 milliamp to 900 milliamp. 

USB 3 should also have better power management. Basically, if the device is not being charged or in use the device gets no power; saving power. The device will be sent a wake up message to start up communications instead of a constant query method.
 

When is it expected to be released or put in to production? Well, don’t hold your breath, but commercial products are expected to arrive in 2009 or 2010. USB 2 has been on the market for 7 years. The new revision is going to be faster and the cables are going to be thicker and will most likely put a hefty load on the CPUs- definitely older CPU’s. Once accepted it’ll take some time to place in to circulation and expect some of those guys to report some problems. 

I look forward to playing and testing the new version.

Regards,
NapoleonAG
Email/IM: NapoleonAG.TSS@Gmail.com
Website: www.TechSideStories.com

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