Intel launches USB 3.0

Intel today released a draft specification of the USB 3.0 standard, which is a widely adopted peripheral interface standard in the computer industry.

It also provided information about xHCI (Extensible Host Controller Interface) to member companies of the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, which consists of HP, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and many other companies.

xHCI provides a standardized way for USB 3.0 host controllers—chips or plug-in cards on the host—to communicate with driver software running on USB 3.0 peripherals.

USB 3.0 is expected to operate at speeds of 4.8Gbps, which is ten times faster than the theoretical speed of USB 2.0 at 480Mbps. USB 3.0 will be backward compatible with existing devices.

Intel continues to develop faster peripheral interface standards to meet the file transfer and processing demands of high-definition video and other rich media content.