The USB 3.0 Promoter Group on Tuesday announced an incremental
update to the USB standard that’ll enable faster transmission of data across
existing cables.
USB hosts and devices were originally designed as single-lane
solutions but as bandwidth demands increased, it became increasingly apparent
that something would need to be done to scale performance. That’s why
multi-lane support was built into USB Type-C cables.
With the USB 3.2 specification, new hosts and devices can be
designed as multi-lane solutions to take advantage of the extra lanes.
The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, which is comprised of Apple,
Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Renesas Electronics, ST Microelectronics and
Texas Instruments, notes that new devices can support up to two lanes of 5 Gbps
or two lanes of 10 Gbps operation.
A USB 3.2 host connected to a USB 3.2
storage device, for example, will now be capable of data transfers of over 2
GB/sec. With two 10 Gbps lanes, performance is effectively doubled versus what
is possible today.
Just to reiterate, because existing USB Type-C cables already
support multi-lane operation, no new cables are needed to realize the faster
speeds. What’s more, the USB 3.2 spec will remain compatible with USB 3.0 and
earlier devices.
The USB 3.2 specification is currently going through a final
draft review phase. A formal release is expected ahead of the USB Developer
Days North America event scheduled for September.
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