USB 3.1 specification announced, would offer speeds of up to 10Gbps

It looks like the humble USB port is all
set to get an upgrade.
The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has
announced that it has completed work
on USB 3.1 Specification. The next
generation iteration of the
connectivity standard will feature
enhancements to enable SuperSpeed
USB to offer transfer speeds of up to
10 Gbps.
In a press statement, the group said,
"SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps uses a more
efficient data encoding and will deliver
more than twice the effective data
through-put performance of existing
SuperSpeed USB over enhanced, fully
backward compatible USB connectors
and cables. Compatibility is assured
with existing USB 3.0 software stacks
and device class protocols as well as
with existing 5Gbps hubs and devices
and USB 2.0 products."
It's worth pointing out that USB 3.0
can offer transfer speeds of up to
5Gbps. Just like the USB 3.0 standard,
the USB 3.1 SuperSpeed standard will
be backwards-compatible with devices
based on USB 2.0.
"The USB 3.1 specification primarily
extends existing USB 3.0 protocol and
hub operation for speed scaling along
with defining the next higher physical
layer speed as 10 Gbps," said Brad
Saunders, Chairman of USB 3.0
Promoter Group.
"The specification team worked hard to
make sure that the changes made to
support higher speeds were limited and
remained consistent with existing USB
3.0 architecture to ease product
development."
Following the announcement, chip
makers like Intel can now start work
on chips that support the new USB 3.1
specification.
"The industry has affirmed the strong
demand for higher through-put, for
user-connected peripherals and docks,
by coming together to produce a
quality SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps
specification," said Alex Peleg, Vice
President, Intel Architecture Group.
"Intel is fully committed to deliver on
this request."
After the start of chipset production,
OEMs will also be able to offer USB 3.1
connectivity with their devices.
"We recognize this advancement in USB
technology is an important development
for our customers," said Tom Bonola,
Chief Technology Officer, Business PC
Solutions, HP. "The
USB 3.1 Specification enables us to
meet the growing needs of our
customers for faster data transfer
while maintaining backwards
compatibility with existing devices."
The first devices with USB 3.1
standard are expected to be available
in late 2014.