SuperSpeed USB, or USB 3.0, has been available in certified consumer products for the previous two years. The serial bus specification includes a 5Gbps signal rate which represents a ten-fold increase of the data rate over HIGH-Speed USB. The interface relies on a dual-bus architecture that enables both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 operations to take place simultaneously, and it provides backward compatibility. Intel recently announced that its upcoming Intel 7 Series Chipset Family for client PCs and Intel C216 Chipset for servers received SuperSpeed USB Certification; this may signal that 2012 is an adoption inflection point for the three year old specification. In addition to providing a ten-fold improvement in data transfers, SuperSpeed USB increases the maximum power available via the bus to devices, supports new transfer types, and includes new power management features for lower active and idle power consumption.

As SuperSpeed USB becomes available on more host-like consumer devices, will the need to support the new interface gain more urgency? Are you looking at USB 3.0 for any of your upcoming projects? If so, what features in the specification are most important to you?

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