FireWire New Specifications Unleash the Data Hose

The IEEE 1394, also known as Apple's FireWire and Sony's i.Link is subject to a new set of specifications meant to quadruple the actual data transfer rate. The new FireWire version will be called S3200 and is a dramatic improvement of the former specifications approved by the IEEE.

Further details about the new technologies are to be disclosed this week, but it is for sure that the standard will preserve the existing FireWire connectors and cables. The interface and interconnects will remain untouched, but there will be a major performance boost.

"It will probably go into storage products first", said 1394 Trade Association spokesman Richard Davies. "It should turn up in set-top boxes and maybe Blue-ray devices, too. It's too soon to tell how fast [consumer electronics] makers might adopt it."

The FireWire standard is used to connect hard-disks that can transfer data at up to 90Mbps rates at a low power cost, which completely eliminates the need of external power sources and adapters. Moreover, the new standard is likely to provide support for miscellaneous appliances interconnection using standard, coaxial cable. For instance HDTV equipment could be linked with set-top-boxes, personal computers or TV sets, all around the house, since the new specifications allow the transmission of data over distances larger than 100 meters.

It seems that home entertainment is a good start for the extended FireWire specifications, featuring a peer-to-peer architecture, where the computer itself is about to become disposable. Many HDTV player models and set-top-boxes already include a FireWire port. "FireWire is the only separable interface today that can record HD programs in their full digital quality while also meeting the content protection requirements of copyright holders", Davies said.

According to the 1394 Trade Association, there are one billion FireWire ports sold worldwide, in a broad range of consumer-electronics products. The new technology will rival the under-construction USB 3.0 standard. "The S3200 standard will sustain the position of IEEE 1394 as the absolute performance leader in multi-purpose I/O ports for consumer applications in computer and CE devices", James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association said.