Consumer and small-business storage device maker Promise Technology on June 18 introduced the Pegasus J2, a Thunderbolt interface storage device, which the company claims can move data at speeds up to 750MB per second in a device the size of a smartphone.
Pegasus J2 (pictured next to an Apple mouse), designed as a storage complement for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks, is a pocket-sized NAND flash-based storage device that will soon be available in 256GB and 512GB capacities.
Thunderbolt is a new-generation interface for connecting peripheral devices to a PC via an expansion bus. Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple. It was introduced commercially on Apple’s updated MacBook Pro lineup on Feb. 24, 2011, using the same connector as Mini DisplayPort.
Though the Thunderbolt trademark was registered by Apple, full IP rights belong to Intel, which subsequently led to the transfer of the registration from Apple to Intel.
Thunderbolt combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into a serial data interface that can be carried over longer and less costly cables. Thunderbolt driver chips multiplex the data from these two sources for transmission and then de-multiplex them for consumption within the devices. This makes the system backward-compatible with existing DisplayPort hardware upstream of the driver.
Promise Technology, founded in San Jose, Calif., in 1988, has headquarters offices in Taiwan and Milpitas, Calif. Pegasus J2 JBOD (“just a bunch of drives”) expansion units will be available for order from the Apple Online Store beginning in early Q3, the company said.