USBs everywhere are struggling to keep up with high-speed data transfer so thank the lords for Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology, coming to a MacBook near you soon.
By Leo Stiles
As hard drive and file sizes get larger and larger by the month, thanks to the proliferation of high definition content, the strain is starting to show on the ubiquitous USB as they struggle to transfer data in a reasonable timeframe.
Intel has seen this issue coming and has just released the first version of its new I/O interface called Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt is a new technology initiative developed by Intel in partnership with Apple and is part of push by Intel to make I/O (input/output) faster and more flexible than ever before. The technology is based on an Intel project called Light Peak, which replaces copper-based connections with optic fibre, allowing for a phenomenal jump in data transfer speeds.
Current projections for the technology give a top transfer speed of up to 10Gbps (gigabytes per second), which is over 20 times the current USB standard. This massive bandwidth also makes it possible for one port to transfer data to multiple connections without any dip in performance.
Imagine the POWER in these cables…
One of the most remarkable things is that one Thunderbolt port can start a daisy chain up to seven Thunderbolt-supported devices, including two high definition displays, something that is just unheard of with any other I/O interface.
Intel have demonstrated this by streaming a Mac desktop to one screen while streaming a HD movie to a second screen; all the while transferring files in excess of 5 GB to an external hard drive in under a couple of minutes.
The potential of Thunderbolt is pretty wide ranging and you will probably see knock-on effects, such as laptops that ship with optional plug-and-play hard drives that you can hot swap like a memory card. Such drives would route the Thunderbolt connection and allow other devices to connect through the drive and could conceivably connect to a HDTV as a media centre.
So far the application of this technology has been centred on display devices and external hard drives but there is nothing stopping hardware manufacturers of media players, digital cameras and video cameras from building this tech in to their upcoming products and ushering in a new era of high-speed creative data transfer.
Apple approval
Apple in particular, has jumped on Thunderbolt by including it in the latest versions of their MacBook Pro line of professional laptops and we wouldn’t be surprised if the interface became standard in iPods, iPhones and iPads in the near future. Such a move would make syncing a 30 second affair rather than a 10 minute one; something that would give the already popular devices even more consumer appeal.
So what is to become of the humble USB port? Well, it’s not going anywhere and is about to be upgraded to 3.0 in 2011 with data transfer speed topping out at over 4Gbps; nearly 10 times that of 2.0.
Intel have already said that Thunderbolt is not going to be a direct competitor to USB and rather than becoming a rival, the company says that Thunderbolt will compliment the existing technologies while delivering in areas that are beyond what USB can deliver. Sounds good to us and we can imagine that Microsoft will be keen to implement Thunderbolt into the next generation of Kinect, which so far has been limited by the constraints of USB bandwidth.
Support for either technology will be limited in 2011 but most of the major manufacturers have expressed interest in both of them and we should see some innovative new products shipping towards the end of the year. Until then you will have to pony up the cash for a new Mac or soldier on with USB 2.0.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
