14 DAY TRIAL // Until recently, there weren't many USB 3.0 controllers on the list of USB-IF-certified ones, but it looks like one new member has made it, that being the EJ168 which Etron developed quite a while ago.
The USB Implementers Forum could be said to be very strict when it comes to certifying any controller chip.
In fact, even with the admission of the ASMedia ASM1042 and, now, of the Etron EJ168, the list of USB 3.0 controller chips to bear the USB-IF logo is still quite small.
Either way, Etron has finally made the aforementioned list, after about a year of waiting, the host controller having been demonstrated as far back as Computex 2010.
For those that want a reminder, the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface standard is one that can work at a theoretical maximum transfer speed that is ten times higher than that of USB 2.0.
More specifically, it can go as high as roughly 5 Gbps, although storage devices have yet to reach the point where they can leverage all that bandwidth.
That said, the Etron chip now expected to work on any mainboard and be compatible with anything thrown at it supports the xHCI 1.0 specification.
This already gives it an advantage, since most others only handle the 0.96 version of the same specification, meaning that they have lower hardware and driver efficiency and, thus, less performance.
The xHCI 1.0 spec also has some advantages when it comes to backwards compatibility with older-generation USB devices.
Either way, the fact that the long year of waiting for approval is over definitely spells good things ahead for Etron, especially if the other Taiwanese controller makers end up taking much longer in getting their own inventions approved.
Either way, as with everything else, Computex 2011 may very well deliver some extra information on the whole USB 3.0 situation.