World’s First USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) Product Gets Certified while Rumors Swirl About Delay of Release of World’s First USB-3.0 Capable Motherboard

In September, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) announced the first certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) commercially available product. The host controller from NEC Electronics Corporation will enable the SuperSpeed USB ecosystem and represents the first step to broad adoption among host and peripheral device manufacturers. NEC Electronics` µPD720200 host controller uses a PCI Express Gen 2 system interface bus, allowing designers to easily add up to two USB 3.0 interfaces to systems containing the PCI Express bus interface.

“The certification of NEC Electronics` host controller signals to the industry that the promise of SuperSpeed USB is now a reality,” said Jeff Ravencraft, president and chair of the USB-IF. “Not only does it mean host device manufacturers can build and certify products that can display the SuperSpeed USB logo, it also provides peripheral device manufacturers incentive to bring to market SuperSpeed USB-enabled devices like external storage drives, digital cameras and MP3 players, which will empower consumers with unmatched USB data transfer speeds.”

SuperSpeed USB brings significant power and performance enhancements to the popular USB standard, delivering data transfer rates up to ten times faster than Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0), with optimized power efficiency. The  specification was completed and made available to the industry in November 2008, and can be found at www.usb.org.

Analyst firm In-Stat projects that SuperSpeed USB will expand upon the broad market adoption of USB, which is the most successful interface in history with more than three billion devices shipped in 2008 alone. In-Stat predicts that SuperSpeed USB will make up approximately 30% of the USB market by 2013.

Originally slated to make its grand debut into the market place in Q1 of 2010, as of October 2009 there are rumblings throughout the industry that Intel has postponed the launch of their core-logic sets with SuperSpeed USB support until 2011.

*******

(2009, October). SuperSpeed USB from the USB-IF. http://www.usb.org/developers/ssusb

Bhushan, Amarendra, (2009, September 21). First SuperSpeed USB 3.0 product gets certified. CEOWorld Magazine. Retrieved on October 25, 2009 from http://ceoworld.biz/ceo/2009/09/21/first-superspeed-usb-3-0-product-gets-certified/

Shilov, Anton (2009, October 26). Intel Rumoured to Delay Implementation of USB 3.0. Retrieved on October 28, 2009 from http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/display/20091026193759_Intel_Rumoured_to_Delay_Implementation_of_USB_3_0.html

2009 Nobel Prize in Physics co-awarded to inventors of CCD Sensor

Last month, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made the annoucement that the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three people who have contributed groundbreaking achievements which helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies.

Charles K. Kao of Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong was awarded “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication” and the other half was jointly awarded to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA “for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor”.

This 1970 photo provided Tuesday by Alcatel-Lucent shows Bell Labs researchers Willard Boyle, left, and George Smith at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., with the charge-coupled device, which transforms patterns of light into useful digital information. (Alcatel-Lucent/Bell Labs/Associated Press)

In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The CCD technology makes use of the photoelectric effect, as theorized by Albert Einstein and for which he was awarded the 1921 year’s Nobel Prize. By this effect, light is transformed into electric signals. The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, pixels, in a short time.

The CCD is the digital camera’s electronic eye. It revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. The digital form facilitates the processing and distribution of these images. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery.

Digital photography has become an irreplaceable tool in many fields of research. The CCD has provided new possibilities to visualize the previously unseen. It has given us crystal clear images of distant places in our universe as well as the depths of the oceans.

Though the CCD sensor is most commonly used by the general public in their digital cameras, Boyle has said he is most proud of the telescopic applications it has in astronomy. The device is used to capture images from the Hubble space telescope and Mars Rover.

“We saw for the first time the surface of Mars,” Boyle told The Associated Press. “It wouldn’t have been possible without our invention.”

Boyle’s other inventions include the first continuously operating ruby laser and he also worked with NASA to provide technological support during the Apollo space program.

******

(October 6, 2009). Canadian Scientist shares Nobel Physics prize, CBC News. Retrieved on October 22, 2009 from http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/06/nobel-prize-physics-kao-boyle-smith281.html?ref=rss