USB 3.0 Might Hit The Breaks

We’ve been talking about USB 3.0 for almost one year now and last week we hear the maker, Intel, is looking to put on the breaks.  This isn’t the first time Intel has rallied the industry, gotten chip makers to support it, then corporate shut it down via lack of integration [Wireless USB].

What the general population might not understand is that USB is a fairly inconsistent bus for enumeration with peripherals.  Sure, for the average user their USB devices work, but for an engineer or tech savvy user, they all pretty much agree – USB is problematic.

Maybe this is just one reason why Intel is slowing it’s adoption of it…the other is probably the new development of Light Peak.  Light Peak is a fiber optical cable which supports up to 10Gbps [now] and expandability to 100Gbps [future].  Light Peak doesn’t use complicated protocols like USB, but rather simple protocols and thus can be used with different bus interfaces, such as Fire wire, USB and SATA.

It’s unfortunate that USB 3.0 isn’t going to happen faster, it’s already been long enough, but as my Dad always said, “it is what it is.”

At least Intel plans to integrate Light Peak sometime in 2010, meaning our bandwidth thirst will be quenched.