USB-4 Announced
Confusion Continues
The USB-Promoter-Group, an industry standard organization that obviously has never asked a marketing firm to help with their naming schemes, announced that the next version of USB will be coming forth soon. It uses the same USB-C cables that you have come to love simply because you do not need to flip the cable four and a half times every time you attempt to plug it into your machine.
USB-4 Type C will double the speeds to 80Gbps even using the old 40Gbps cables. How do you tell if your cable can do 40Gbps? Thoughts and Prayers. Or a $15,000 cable tester may work. The sad fact of the matter is, that while USB-C has made things easier to connect, the cables themselves offer no solution to knowing what is what. Is it a Thunderbolt Capable Cable? Can it do power delivery of 1.21 Gigawatts? Can you run HDMI over it? What is the data capacity? WHO THE HECK KNOWS!?!?!
And now, we are told…”Hey, another standard that looked exactly like the old standard that your old cables may or may not work but they will look like they will work, but you will have no way of knowing if you are getting the full capacity out of them or if they were made somewhere in Shenzen where they offer the gigggawatttt option without realizing that you will burn down your home…AND YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!!”.
Ok…without adeu…The USB-Promoters Group Press Release.
USB Promoter Group Announces USB4® Version 2.0
The specification defines delivering up to 80 Gbps over USB Type-C®
Beaverton, OR, USA – September 1, 2022 – The USB Promoter Group today announced the pending release of the USB4® Version 2.0 specification, a major update to enable up to 80 Gbps of data performance over the USB Type-C® cable and connector. The USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB PD) specifications will also be updated to enable this higher level of data performance. All of these specification updates are expected to be published in advance of this year’s series of USB DevDays developer events planned for November.
Protocol updates are also being made to enable higher performance USB 3.2, DisplayPortTM, and PCI Express® (PCIe®) data tunneling to best use the higher available bandwidth.
“Once again following USB tradition, this updated USB4 specification doubles data performance to deliver higher levels of functionality to the USB Type-C ecosystem,” said Brad Saunders, USB Promoter Group Chairman. “Solutions seeing the most benefit from this speed enhancement include higher-performance displays, storage, and USB-based hubs and docks.”
Key characteristics of the updated USB4 solution include:
Up to 80 Gbps operation, based on a new physical layer architecture, using existing 40 Gbps USB
Type-C passive cables and newly-defined 80 Gbps USB Type-C active cables.
Updates to data and display protocols to better use the increase in available bandwidth.
o USB data architecture updates now enable USB3.2 data tunneling to exceed 20Gbps.
o Updated to align with the latest versions of the Display Port and PCIe specifications.
Backward compatibility with USB4 Version 1.0, USB 3.2, USB 2.0 and ThunderboltTM 3.
Via: USB.org
For a more in-depth understanding of this, visit Ars Technica.