Wednesday, April 9, 2008

FireWire goes to 1.6 Gbps

FireWire jumps to 1.6 GbpsFC39342E-2073-4206-8DF5-ACBB2A7F16D3.jpg
Symwave, a semiconductor maker, has announced the FirePHY-1600, which doubles the speed of FireWire to 1.6 Gbps. Current FireWire 800 only manages 800 Mbps.



FirePHY-1600 is fully backwards compatible with Firewire 400 and FireWire 800, and the speed increases are dramatic. According to Macworld, Symwave says that in under 5 seconds, you can transfer 1,000 4 megapixel photos. Of course, this is possible at 1.6 Gbps, which is the maximum throughput. Actual throughput will be less on average.


Given that FireWire is an Apple-introduced standard, it would be nice to see Apple first on the bandwagon for Firewire 1600, at least in their Mac Pros.


(Via Appletell.)


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