IEEE launched the new generation FireWire standard

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has just passed the IEEE 1394-2008 standard, a new version of FireWire for connecting PCs to digital video devices and external hard drives.

The new standard has been revised and improved compared to the current standard that has been available for the past 13 years. This upgraded version is much faster than the current FireWire version. Specifically, the speed has been pushed from 800Mbps (FireWire 800 version) to 3.2Gbps (S3200 version). In addition to the S3200, IEEE also adopts the 1.6Gbps S1600 version. IEEE also stated that the new IEEE 1394 standard will have a final speed of 6.4Gbps.

Both the new IEEE interfaces (S3200 and S1600) can be used with existing FireWire 800 cables, making the conversion process more smooth.

IEEE expects the FireWire 3200 (S3200) version to be deployed in October. New IEEE standards-integrated products are not immediately introduced, but manufacturers plan to deploy the technology in the shortest time. This seems like Apple is the first company to integrate FireWire 3200 technology for its products.

October 2008 is considered an important time because the USB 3.0 standard (backed by Intel) is also expected to be announced. This standard will be put into use around the end of 2008, bringing the maximum USB data transfer rate to 4.8Gbps. Meanwhile, the current version of USB 2.0 only reaches 480Mbps.

Reportedly, the FireWire standard was very popular in Sony and Apple products, while the majority of the PC industry still relied on USB standards for data transfer. According to analysts, even if the IEEE speed is maximized, it is less likely to be widely used.

The FireWire standard was first released 13 years ago, and so far more than 500 million IEEE 1394 ports have been produced.