USB 3.0 Aims for 4.8Gbps, Switches to Optical & Will Probably be Late

The days of wired USB may not be over yet, not by a long shot. Intel at IDF 2007 has announced plans for USB 3.0. That's actually a continuation of the cable version of Universal Serial Bus. A "SuperSpeed" USB Promoter Group has been formed that is overseeing the completion of the specification. Everything should be finalized sometime in the middle of 2008, with the first devices to hit market in 2009. You may want to add at least 2 years to both dates, given the track record of the previous USB announcements and market penetration.

What makes USB 3.0 so special is that it's basically built from ground up. It will take care of the backward compatibility, but at its core, USB 3.0 will go for optical interface as its target speed is set at an ambitious 4.8Gbps. To take the best of both worlds, USB 3.0 cables will support both optical and copper interfaces. NEC mentioned USB 3.0 may need to cut in half of its 5m reach in order to hit its goals.

Another thing that dramatically improves the performance and power consumption is the the removal of continuous polling of devices, meaning future USB hosts don't have to check on the devices like a hawk. Virtual machines will also have the ability to access USB devices without software intervention; a major goal is to make a single USB device functions from multiple resources.