USB might be feeling a sting of jealousy due to Thunderbolt's transfer rates, but it isn't taking the development lying down. Sometime in the “middle of this year,” the USB 3.0 promoter group intends to make available a new standard of the platform, SuperSpeed USB, which will bring about a doubling of transfer speeds to 10 Gbps.

Compatibility with older USB hardware and connectors will remain, as you would expect from the USB standard. However new devices that support SuperSpeed will need to be bought/installed before the new performance enhancements can be appreciated.

“With USB technology continuing to be the data and power delivery path of choice across personal computing and consumer electronics, we are always looking ahead to how to best improve user experience and connectivity performance,” said Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman. “Doubling SuperSpeed USB performance will be especially beneficial for emerging USB docking and storage applications.”

“This enhancement builds on the tremendous success of USB and expands its capability by doubling the data rate,” said Roland Sperlich, TI Consumer and Computing Interface Product Line Manager. “While maintaining backward compatibility, the 10 Gbps data rate allows users to do more with a universal standard that can be leveraged by many industries.”

KitGuru Says: It's all well and good releasing a new “standard,” but there aren't that many people that use USB 3.0 now. They aren't going to rush out and buy USB 3.0 + just because it's out there. It's a nice idea and makes sense for new system builds, but I can't see the adoption of this SuperSpeed tech being particularly fast.

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