The New Generation of USB
USB 3.0, the next generation of USB (Universal Serial Bus) had been 
introduced at September 2007 in Intel Developer Forum and officially announced in November 2008. This new generation of USB is capable to increase the data transfer rate ten times faster than its predecessor, no doubt it is called the SuperSpeed USB. SuperSpeed USB or USB 3.0 can transfer data up to 5.0 Gbps (625 Mb/s); USB 2.0 runs at maximum speed of 480 Mbps.
Beside his incredible speed, USB 3.0 an use Dual-simplex protocol with four extension cables that separate the signaling from USB 2.0 so it can reach its total speed (5.0 Gbit/s), it also already support full duplex data transfer and power management facility so it can be set in idle, sleep and suspend state.
Although its speed and new features is incredible, USB 3.0 has still some weaknesses. There is still no Host Controller for USB 3.0 port that integrated in motherboard, so you must add PCI-Express add-on card as the Host Controller. USB 3.0 has different connectors than USB 2.0. The Backward Compatibility feature in USB 3.0 just used in USB 3.0 connectors, and it is used to read the USB 2.0. In that case, USB 3.0 cannot be used in USB 2.0 connectors.
There is a chance the USB 3.0 Host Controller will be available around this year in a form of PCI-Express add on card. But for the integrated port in the motherboard, probably it will be available next year.
With USB 3.0 around, probably it is time for computer users to migrate to this new generation of USB.
Filed under: IT Update | 2 Comments
Tags: IT, USB 3.0
cool article but it is unclear that USB 3.0 runs at 4.8 Gigabit/second (600 Mbytes/second) and USB 2.0 at 480 Mbit/second (0,480 gigabit/second or 60 Mbytes/second).
(“SuperSpeed USB or USB 3.0 can transfer data up to 5.0 Gbps (625 Mb/s); USB 2.0 runs at maximum speed of 480 Mbps.”)
Regards,
Carles
http://www.codic.cat