Symwave to Demo USB 3.0 Data Link Protocol at CES

The USB data connectivity protocol—which connects an estimated 90 percent of all data storage devices in the world to disk or solid-state drives—hasn't had many substantial upgrades made to it since the late 1990s. Starting Jan. 6, however, that's all going to change.

Networking semiconductor maker Symwave will stage the first public demonstration of USB 3.0 connectivity Jan. 6 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The invitation-only demo will be held in a private suite at the Las Vegas Hilton immediately adjacent to CES, Symwave said.

The 4-year-old company will demonstrate SuperSpeed USB 3.0, which it claims is at least 10 times faster than the current best USB performance.

Symwave, in collaboration with several test, cable, components and hard drive manufacturers, says it will show USB 3.0 transfer speeds of up to 5Gb/ps for streaming data, to and from external storage devices.

"We believe that this will become the most pervasive high-speed connectivity technology over the coming years," John O'Neill, vice president of marketing for Symwave, told eWEEK. "There's FireWire, SATA [Serial ATA], Ethernet; when you look at the data rate capabilities of those technologies, USB 3.0 exceeds every one of those."