14 DAY TRIAL // With the USB 3.0 interface picking up speed, hardware makers are doing their best to somehow make up for the very low number of motherboards with this functionality built-in. There are already a range of USB 3.0 ExpressCards and PCIe add-in cards, among other things, but the next-generation interface is still far from becoming mainstream. Through its latest hardware release, Belkin is aiming to expand the availability of the new standard and provide current systems with the possibility of leveraging the new technology.
The company unveiled A-B and Micro-B USB 3.0 cables, along with an ExpressCard and a PCIe add-in card. All these products aim to give any desktop the ability to reach the theoretical transfer speed of 5.0Gbps when interfacing with USB 3.0 flash drives, hard disks or solid state drives. Of course, how well the respective storage units take advantage of the interface will be dependent on their own capabilities, but any speed boost is welcome, especially in the case of high-capacity drives that, on USB 2.0, need quite a long time to copy large volumes of data.
"Belkin has always led in adopting new technology and bringing products that support these new technologies to consumers," RJ Theodore, general manager of Core Products, said. "USB 3.0 is positioned to have a major impact in connectivity for computers, media players, and other devices. Similar to when USB 2.0 was first introduced, we plan on leading the integration of USB 3.0 with a line of thoughtful solutions that are easy for our customers to understand and use."
The USB 3.0 adapters from Belkin employ the NEC controller and are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices. Along with the cables, they are currently slated to make their first steps into the world in April. The A-B cable and Micro-B cable will be priced at $49.99, whereas the PCIe add-in card and ExpressCard will carry a price tag of $79.99.
