USB 3.1 Specification Completed, Brings 10 Gbps Speeds

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group today announced the completion of the USB 3.1 Specification which adds enhancements to enable SuperSpeed USB to operate at up to 10
Gbps.

SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps uses a more efficient data encoding and will deliver more than
twice the effective data throughput 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 5
Gbps hubs and devices and USB 2.0 products.

“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 10Gbps,” said
Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman. “


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.”

“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.”

Of course this new specification will compete with Thunderbolt, a more powerful yet less adopted technology spearheaded by Apple and Intel. In April, Intel announced the next generation of Thunderbolt featuring speeds up to 20 Gbps.

The new Thunderbolt host connector is codenamed Redwood Ridge and will be built into the its upcoming fourth generator Core processors. Another Thunderbolt tech codenamed Falcon Ridge will enable simultaneous 4K video file transfer and display in addition to running at 20 Gbps. The new technology will be backwards compatible with existing cables and connectors. Production is expected to begin in 2014.