So you think that USB 2.0 is slow? You are not alone, and now Intel has led the formation of a group to develop a new USB 3.0 standard that will deliver a blistering 4.8Gbits per second, which is over 10 times that of the USB 2.0 standard of 480Mbits per second. The new 3.0 standard is being developed to be fully backward compatible with the previous 2.0 and 1.1 standards to allow older USB devices to be plugged into the new specification interface.

In addition to the higher speeds that are being designed into the USB 3.0 standard, USB 3.0 will deliver lower power consumption and improvements in the protocol overhead and efficiency, which will yield additional benefits that consumers will find valuable. The USB 3.0 standard will support both optical and copper cabling. The decision to add optical cabling at this stage in the development means that speeds higher than the 4.8Gbits target might be a possibility in future revisions of the standard.

High capacity devices, such as larger USB flash drives, USB hard disk drives and USB backup storage devices, have driven the need for a faster standard capable of transferring larger amounts of data with even greater speeds. Greater speeds are needed to reduce the wait time that is normally required when using these larger storage devices due to the vast number of files that the average user wants to move. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) will act as the trade association for the USB 3.0 specification and certification.