Intel, Adaptec boost USB 2.0, FireWire

The co-promotion program will run from August 27 until December 28, 2001. During this period, Intel will bundle Adaptec's USB2connect 3100LP, FireConnect 4300 and DuoConnect USB 2.0/1394 PCI cards on Intel D850MV, D845HV and D845WN 10-pack motherboards respectively.

[url=http://www.everythingusb.com/hardware/index/Adaptec_USB2connect_3100_Card.htm]Adaptec USB2Connect 3100LP[/url] is a 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card. The FireConnect 4300 is 3-port 1394 PCI card bundled with MGI VideoWave 4 SE software. The USB2Connect DuoConnect USB 2.0/1394 PCI provides dual 1394 and USB 2.0 capability.

"The D850MV and D850MD boards feature the Intel® 850 chipset and are well suited for streaming video, 3D graphics and MP3 audio. The D845HV and D845WN boards support up to 3GB of single-data-rate (SDR) PC133 SDRAM memory and use the Intel 845 chipset."

Adaptec is now shipping USB 2.0 driver for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, while Windows XP comes with built-in FireWire support.

This is apparently an effective way to boost USB 2.0 share on Intel motherboards. Regardless of which standard is better, consumers will only use whatever motherboard manufacturers give them for free. The Firewire-tradmark owner Apple obviously favor FireWire, but on the Wintel world, the winner still remains to be seen.