CES: USB 3.0 facing slow take-up from manufacturers

The computing industry will begin adopting USB 3.0, also known as Super-speed USB, this year and the technology will be ubiquitous by next year, according to the USB Implementers Forum.

Jeff Ravencraft, chairman of the Forum, told V3.co.uk that USB 3.0 had been limited to high-end systems owing to cost, but that more widespread adoption is expected this year and the technology will be in most platforms by 2012.

"As pricing drops USB 3.0 will become compelling," he said. "It will become cheap, and it's easy to scale."

USB 3.0 devices are still relatively uncommon, despite the technology's being finalised over a year ago. However, prices are dropping rapidly and interest in the fast connection speeds is growing.

The specification was designed to handle a minimum of 25GB/s for data transfer over copper rather than optical connections, leaving plenty of room for growth.

The USB Implementers Forum has been demonstrating the technology at this year's Consumer Electronics Show by running streaming video backed up onto a hard drive.