14 DAY TRIAL // Although it didn't have an easy road in front of it, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 has pretty much managed to become standard in all last generation motherboards, and recent leaks suggest that Intel will finally offer native USB 3.0 support in their upcoming chipsets, dubbed Panther Point.
Scheduled to be released together with the 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, the new chipset is part of the Maho Bay platform, designed to power next year's desktop computers, and will feature as much as four USB 3.0 ports.
The information was detailed in an Intel presentation, targeted towards motherboard manufacturers, that was released in October 2010 and has been uncovered by a German website called Heise.
According to the slides presented, the four ports will be handled by an Intel xHCI controller that is compatible with Windows 7, the upcoming Windows 8 and Linux, in XP and Vista the ports running in USB 2.0 mode.
This happens since Intel has some limitations in its BIOS that don't allow for the SuperSpeed mode to be enabled until after system boot-up, leaving the task to the operating system, as one of the slides explains.
In addition to the four USB 3.0 ports, the Panther Point PCH packs two EHCI controllers, offering as much as 14 USB 2.0 ports to motherboard manufacturers.
Although it had a pretty rocky start, USB 3.0 managed to impose itself on the market thanks to motherboard manufacturers efforts and to VIA's µPD720200 controller.
Launched in the second quarter of 2009, the µPD720200 made a name for itself as it was featured in the vast majority of the mainboards that packed USB 3.0 support, helping NEC gain a strong foothold in this market.
Contrary to the success enjoyed recently by USB 3.0, Intel's LightPeak technology is still in development and solutions based on this technology haven't reached the market yet.
To add insult to injury, Intel recently announced that first generation Light Peak products will use copper wires, a move that certainly affects the available bandwidth.
