USB3.0 to use fibre to provide 10x speed boost
Posted on 25/09/07 00:22 by Seán Byrne                             
USB3.0 to use fibre to provide 10x speed boost

From the time USB first launched, it has become a major success, first with taking over the bulky slow parallel and SCSI cables that use to attach printers and scanners to later hooking up all sorts of gadgets to PCs, including even non-data based devices such as USB rechargeable batteries, LED lights, mini fans and so on. However, with devices requiring more and more bandwidth, particularly with HD content, large hard drives and upcoming external Blu-ray & HD DVD drives, Intel has recently demonstrated USB 3.0, which aims to provide a bandwidth of about 5Gbps or around 10 times the bandwidth of the current USB2.0 standard.  This will also help it compete against eSATA (1.5Gbps to 3Gbps) for connecting external hard drives, not to mention putting it well ahead of Firewire's 1384b protocol (800Mbps). 

In order to cram this much bandwidth over the cable, USB 3.0 makes use of fibre optic cabling.  This cabling will also include the same wiring and physical connections as legacy USB cable to provide full backwards compatibility with at least USB2.0 devices.  However, USB3.0 devices can only be connected using the new cable specification that features the fibre optic core. 

The final version of USB3.0 is expected to be finished by the first half of 2008 with USB3.0 capable devices predicted to start appearing between 2009 and 2010.  As USB has had a bad reputation for high CPU usage, it is unclear at this time if USB3.0 improves on this issue.  So far, no info has been made available on the number of USB3.0 devices that can be chained, the maximum cable length, maximum supply current and so on.

Further information can be read in this source Ars Technica report.

Reactions
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By bugmenot (guest), Tue 25 Sep 2007 06:29
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Fiber optics is notoriously fragile stuff. Don't kink it or it breaks. Did they solve this problem?
By applegodel8, Tue 25 Sep 2007 08:14
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actually new fiber is better and more flexible however is still the more fragile cable out there. but the thinner the strands the more flex it gets. so i don't think this will be a problem, and fiber is the future. biggrin
By DukeNukem, Tue 25 Sep 2007 14:46
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DukeNukemFibre is our friend.
By Truman, Tue 25 Sep 2007 18:45
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Trumanhmm, how will usb3.0 devices like flash drives get their power from? tiny embedded solar panels? clown
By DukeNukem, Tue 25 Sep 2007 22:15
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DukeNukem@ Truman Solar panels? Dude, stop talking crazy. USB 3.0 devices will be nuclear powered. Everyone knows that.
By kev99sl, Tue 25 Sep 2007 23:12
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Huh. OK. In pretty much every other industry, there's been a ... let's call it moderation (vs. full retreat) in the use of fiber. For one thing, improvements in copper have narrowed the speed advantage, fiber *remains* fragile despite some improvement, and -- most importantly -- while fiber is fast while it works, it's not even close to copper when it comes to durability. I have to think that's going to be an issue in an application that entails things like constantly plugging/unplugging the cable, coiling it up, and tossing it in a bag along with your external hard drive for the car ride home. I guess I'll have to reserve judgment until I see it in action. *EDIT* Incidentally, fiber is also a royal *pain* to manufacture and work with. Ever try to terminate a fiber line? It requires special tools and lots of practice. I think three people on the planet are making it, and it requires clean room operations. You think USB cables are expensive now?
This message was edited at: 25-09-2007 23:14
By chsbiking, Wed 26 Sep 2007 05:23
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I don't know about fibre, never used it. I always thought ethernet cable was fragile. Everytime I'm drinking at a LAN party and trip on it, it never seems to work after that. Network card is usually busted to. Then I gotta find someone who is sober to drive me all the way to Best Buy and buy a new one. By the time I get everything installed I'm sober, and I have to start all over. Seems to me ethernet needs to be made more stable. I should be able to trip on it at least three or four times before it stops working. I think the same requirements should apply to fibre as well.
This message was edited at: 26-09-2007 05:25
By DukeNukem, Wed 26 Sep 2007 15:50
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DukeNukem@ chsbiking Have you thought about not drinking? Seriously, go to a quiet room and think about it for awhile. Smilie
By applegodel8, Wed 26 Sep 2007 18:22
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a drunk geek, now thats funny. i craw the floor, but never tripped.
By Ragnarok666, Wed 26 Sep 2007 19:14
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i assume that the optical route it's not as bad as people make out, after all spdif/toslink works great. USB i imagine will be more upto date and be made part of the legacy usb standard connector to make it backward compatable and provide power. only thing is that if the optical link is pressent than it works a $hit load faster.
This message was edited at: 26-09-2007 19:15
By chsbiking, Thu 27 Sep 2007 06:19
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I thought about it long and hard. But then I had to go to the store because I ran out of beer.
By cd pirate, Thu 27 Sep 2007 10:37
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cd pirateHmmmm I'm with everyone who thinks it will be too fragile. Why not just make USB cable thicker instead, so more wires can fit inside? I dunno, but as someone said, people are unplugging cables, tossing them around ALL the time. Fragile cables = not going to work.

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