Fast bus
Intel has unveiled what it calls the "Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI)" draft specification to support USB 3.0, also called "SuperSpeed USB". USB 3.0 promises to offer ten times the data transfer rate of USB 2.0.
The draft phase is largely concerned with interoperability. In other words, it's not much good unless most, ideally all, devices can use it. The draft specification is being made available to all USB 3.0 Promoter Group and contributor companies.
"The future of computing and consumer devices is increasingly visual and bandwidth intensive," said Phil Eisler, AMD corporate VP and GM of the chipset business unit. "USB 3.0 is an answer to the future bandwidth need of the PC platform. AMD believes strongly in open industry standards, and therefore is supporting a common xHCI specification."
"Microsoft intends to deliver Windows support for hardware that is compliant with the xHCI specification," said Chuck Chan, Microsoft GM of Windows Core OS. "This is a huge step forward in enabling the industry and our customers to easily connect SuperSpeed USB devices to their PCs for exciting new functionality and usages."
Intel plans to make available a revised xHCI 0.95 specification in the fourth quarter. The updated revision of the specification will also be released under RAND-Z licensing terms via an xHCI adopter's agreement.
This is revision 0.9 of the draft specification and is available under royalty-free licensing terms. The next increment will be xHCI 0.95 in Q4, but Intel doesn't state when it expects USB 3.0 to leave draft phase. Let's hope it's a bit quicker than 802.11n.
Press release (and winner of Headline Of The Year): Intel Unveils Extensible Host Controller Interface Draft Specification to Support USB 3.0 Architecture
