Home › News › Hardware
NEC introduces world's first USB 3.0 host controller
NEC has unveiled the world’s first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 host controller. The new standard is backwards compatible with its predecessors, USB 2.0, 1.1 and 1.0. Supporting transfer speeds of up to 5Gb/s, on paper, the µPD720200 is ten times the speed of USB 2.0.
NEC states that their new host controller makes it possible to broaden the boundaries of digital electronics such as PCs, TVs and DVD recorders. Their SuperSpeed USB 3.0 chip only requires 70 seconds to transfer 25GB of video content on a Blu-ray disc, which compares to 14 minutes when using USB 2.0 at 480Mb/s. The increase in transfer speed is expected to allow system designers to quickly transfer large-volume data quickly and efficiently.
The chip measures 10 x 10mm and only consumes up to 1W. Samples of the new host controller are scheduled to be available in June for about $15. The company hopes to have a monthly production of one million units in September. The latest device will be exhibited at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference in Tokyo, Japan on the 20 and 21 of this month.
NEC states that their new host controller makes it possible to broaden the boundaries of digital electronics such as PCs, TVs and DVD recorders. Their SuperSpeed USB 3.0 chip only requires 70 seconds to transfer 25GB of video content on a Blu-ray disc, which compares to 14 minutes when using USB 2.0 at 480Mb/s. The increase in transfer speed is expected to allow system designers to quickly transfer large-volume data quickly and efficiently.
The chip measures 10 x 10mm and only consumes up to 1W. Samples of the new host controller are scheduled to be available in June for about $15. The company hopes to have a monthly production of one million units in September. The latest device will be exhibited at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference in Tokyo, Japan on the 20 and 21 of this month.
Related Stories
User Comments (7)
Post a comment|
phantasm66 on May 19, 2009 9:24 AM |
Just think what this will mean for external hard drives, high resolution webcams, external Blu-Ray drives, etc. |
|
ColdFusion1990 on May 19, 2009 9:49 AM |
I'll be happy when I can throw my movie collection across computers in a heartbeat. |
|
Wendig0 on May 19, 2009 12:25 PM |
WOOHOO!!! Thanks NEC! I can't wait! |
|
Relic on May 19, 2009 4:41 PM |
This is awesome. 
|
|
rrowland on May 23, 2009 7:32 AM |
How fast can you read/write data on a Blu-ray disc? According to the Blu-ray Disc specification, 1x speed is defined as 36Mbps. However, as BD-ROM movies will require a 54Mbps data transfer rate the minimum speed we're expecting to see is 2x (72Mbps). Blu-ray also has the potential for much higher speeds, as a result of the larger numerical aperture (NA) adopted by Blu-ray Disc. The large NA value effectively means that Blu-ray will require less recording power and lower disc rotation speed than DVD and HD-DVD to achieve the same data transfer rate. While the media itself limited the recording speed in the past, the only limiting factor for Blu-ray is the capacity of the hardware. If we assume a maximum disc rotation speed of 10,000 RPM, then 12x at the outer diameter should be possible (about 400Mbps). This is why the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) already has plans to raise the speed to 8x (288Mbps) or more in the future. ... So tell me again why we need USB 3.0 when USB 2.0 is sufficent? |
|
N5PZG on May 23, 2009 8:28 AM |
rrowland, you're not seeing the big picture. Data Transfer Rate... Laptop to PC, Camera to PC, MP3 player to PC, External SSD to PC, or all these vise versa. The list goes on and on. You may have a valid point with the external BD read/write capabilities, BUT as far as the rest of those other uses... For today's technology, it's gonna be awesome to have. |
|
cpeterka on May 23, 2009 2:57 PM |
Faster, Cheaper, Faster, Cheaper, Repeat as necessary... |
Most Popular
| Trending | Featured |
-
Chrome 17 released with "instant" browsing, improved security
-
Weekend game deals: Plants vs. Zombies $2, Mass Effect 2 $5
-
Windows 8 Consumer Preview coming Feb. 29, bundled apps leaked
-
Intel Core i7-3820 Review: Sandy Bridge-E for the masses
-
Apple sued for $1.6 billion for using "iPad" in China, apology requested