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Speed of FireWire to Quadruple at 3.2Gbs

The 1394 Trade Association announced a new specification to quadruple the speed of FireWire to reach 3.2
gigabits per second.

The new electrical specification, known as S3200, builds upon the IEEE 1394b
standard, preserving all the advantages of FireWire while offering a major and
unprecedented boost in performance. The new speed uses the cables and
connectors already deployed for FireWire 800 products, making the transition
forward easy and convenient for 1394 product vendors and their customers.
Because the 1394 arbitration, data, and service protocols were not modified
for S3200, silicon and software vendors can deploy the faster speed FireWire
quickly and with confidence that it will deliver its full potential
performance. The S3200 specification is expected to be ratified by early
February.

FireWire 800 products deployed since 2003 have proven that IEEE 1394b delivers
outstanding performance. Operating without polling, without idle times, and
without continuous software management, FireWire 800 efficiently delivers more
than 97 percent of its bit rate as payload — not overhead. FireWire 800 hard
drives today can easily move over 90 megabytes per second. S3200 preserves 100
percent of the 1394b design efficiency and will deliver extremely high payload
speeds reaching nearly 400 megabytes per second. Other interface technologies
struggle to deliver half their advertised bit rate to the user, even under
optimal conditions.

No Compromises to 1394’s Features

The S3200 specification brings FireWire to this new performance level without
compromising existing features. For example, FireWire provides much more
electrical power than any other interface, freeing users from inconvenient AC
power adapters. FireWire products built using S3200 will directly connect to
every previously released FireWire product. Alternative cable options are
available to carry FireWire over long distances – 100 meters or more – even at
high speeds.

Also, FireWire’s peer-to-peer architecture allows products to operate with a
computer – or without one. This superior combination of features is not found
in any other technology, which explains why over one billion FireWire ports
have been shipped to date, on products as diverse as computers, cameras,
televisions, hard drives, and musical instruments. IEEE 1394 also is deployed
in vital applications in state-of-the-art aircraft and polar orbiting
satellites.

S3200 Strengthens 1394’s Position in Storage, Consumer Electronics

One of the strongest markets today for FireWire is storage for computers. The
best hard drives with FireWire 800 can move data almost three times as fast as
the best hard drives with USB 2.0. Also, FireWire provides much more
electrical power than USB, so FireWire-equipped hard drives can operate
without an AC adapter, and at high rotational speeds. USB hard drives can fail
to work from USB power, or require a second USB cable for power, or use the
lowest-performance drive mechanisms because so little power is available.

With S3200 this power advantage for FireWire is fully preserved. S3200 also
makes FireWire so fast that users will see no advantage from eSATA. Both
interfaces are much faster than any modern hard drive mechanism, but eSATA
does not provide electrical power to operate a drive. On a computer, an eSATA
port is far less flexible than a FireWire port, because many more devices can
connect to FireWire. For these reasons, S3200 makes FireWire the superior
choice for future external storage products.

S3200 will also enhance FireWire’s strong position in consumer electronics A/V
devices such as camcorders and televisions. Today, 100 percent of HD set top
boxes provided by cable companies have FireWire ports. So do 100 models of
HDTV. FireWire is the only separable interface today that can record HD
programs in their full digital quality while also meeting the content
protection requirements of copyright holders. Many companies are pursuing
whole-home HD network solutions using FireWire – notably the HANA Alliance.

Technology development is also nearing completion to permit FireWire to
operate over cable television coaxial cables, without disrupting the existing
program content. With S3200, FireWire becomes fast enough to move even
uncompressed HD signals over long distances at much lower cost than solutions
such as HDMI.

"The S3200 standard will sustain the position of IEEE 1394 as the absolute
performance leader in multi-purpose I/O ports for consumer applications in
computer and CE devices,
" said James Snider, executive director, 1394 Trade
Association. "There is a very clear migration path from 800 Megabits/second to
3.2 Gigabits/second, with no need for modifications to the standard and no
requirement for new cables or connectors.
"

The Silicon Working Group developed the S3200 specification within the 1394
Trade Association, with participation by industry leaders including Symwave,
Texas Instruments, LSI Corporation, and Oxford Semiconductor. S3200 specifies
the electrical operation of the 3.2 Gigabit mode first specified by IEEE
1394b-2002, without changing any connector, cable, protocol, or software
requirements. Based on the working group’s progress, the Trade Association has
set a January 2008 date for the specification to enter a ratification process.

1394 Trade Association 

Comments

The battle continues between USB and FireWire interfaces. Last September at Intel Developer Forum was announced USB 3.0 at 4.8Gbs, ten times faster and compatible with USB 2.0, but not available on the market before 2009 or 2010. The 1394 Trade Association answered here with the S3200 at 3.2Gbs, four times faster than FireWire 800 and using the same cables and connectors.

Today, FireWire 800 or 1394b is much more appreciated than USB 2.0 but is more expensive. You find it mainly on Apple computers, replacing SCSI, or high-end PCs and it is used by a lot of A/V devices. USB is a standard that a PC must have, FireWire being sometimes added for a better comfort.

LSI recently claims to have shipped 150 million 1394 ports and Texas Instruments, deeply involved in this interface (Microsoft and Intel are much more USB oriented), has produced more than 350 million 1394 ICs. The 1394 Trade Associationover speaks here about one billion FireWire ports  being shipped up to ow.

But concerning the connexion of an hard disk drive to a PC, the real winner will probably be eSATA at 1.5Gbs or 3.0Gbs, even of  the external unit will need to be powered. It  will be progressively available on all PCs and authorizes the direct connexion of the external device with port multiplier.

Here are the speeds for the various serial interfaces:

  • USB 1.1  15 Mbs
  • FireWire (1394a)   400 Mbs
  • USB 2.0   480 Mbs
  • FireWire 800 (1394b)   800 Mbs
  • SATA 1.5   1.5 Gbs
  • SATA 3.0   3.0 Gbs
  • S3200  3.2Gbs
  • USB 3.0   4.8Gbs
Note that these transfer rates are the maximum ones that you can reach. The reality is largely different and generally, you reach a speed closest to the maximum speed announced with FireWire than USB.

 

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