Following the delivery of final specifications and first host controller samples, it appears that the SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus standard, better known as USB 3.0, is about ready for a commercial rollout. According to a Nikkei report, Taiwanese PC vendors will be among the first to release computers equipped with the next-gen interface, which promises up to 5Gbps transfer speeds, or roughly ten times the speed of USB 2.0.

Citing rapid development in integrated circuits and the shipment of compliant controllers to PC manufacturers, the website claims the first USB 3.0-compatible PCs could appear by the end of the year, with 2010 seeing the start of a mass rollout. External storage is the likely first application of this technology. Unfortunately, USB 3.0 devices are not expected to reach its full potential at launch, with speeds probably reaching only 1.2Gbps initially. This is expected to improve as the standard matures though, as it was the case with its predecessor, paving the way for stuff like HD video streaming or backing up gigabytes of data in mere seconds.