LaCie and Symwave Team Up for SuperSpeed USB (3.0) Dual-Disk RAID Storage

Set to be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the 2Big USB 3.0 will be the result of the joint effort of LaCie and Symwave. It will be a dual disk RAID storage device compliant with the SuperSpeed USB (3.0) standard and will enable professionals to fully leverage the high-speed data transfer capabilities of the USB 3.0 interface. The gadget will be available in capacities of up to 4TB and will be able to simultaneously stream and edit multiple HD files, as well as carry out other operations such as reaching 275MB/s burst read transfer speeds even when transferring uncompressed or HD media files.

“Offering fast speeds is a major priority for LaCie. Our customers have long-awaited a robust, super fast interface to enable a better workflow. Symwave’s industry-leading dual SATA bridge controller enabled us to address this demand, and to achieve the highest speed ever obtained with a dual-disk solution,” said Minh Le, Marketing Director at LaCie. “LaCie intends to lead the market transition to USB 3.0 technology and will launch a full range of products in the coming months.”

The actual product is set to become the first SuperSpeed USB (3.0)-based dual-disk RAID storage solution and will combine LaCie's professional storage technology with Symwave’s USB 3.0 standard-compliant dual SATA and RAID bridge controller. This controller can achieve the highest throughput possible to an external USB 3.0 storage unit.

“LaCie has a strong worldwide brand and a proven track record for developing high-performance and innovative storage solutions. This collaboration with LaCie, which coincides with our SW6318 USB 3.0 dual-SATA product announcement is yet another first in the industry and for Symwave,” said John O’Neill, Vice President of Marketing at Symwave. “The end user experience of external storage is undergoing a very significant upgrade with the launch of USB 3.0 products. We are pleased to be leading the market transition with such a strong partner like LaCie.”

The device will become available in the early stages of 2010 (no exact date is available) and the precise date when it is showcased at CES is January 7. When it eventually becomes available, the product will be bundled with backup software for both PC and MAC systems.