THUNDERBOLT and USB 3.0

  There are some new emerging technologies entering the storage market that offer external drive and peripheral connection to your computer. USB 3.0 is almost exclusive to the PC market and recently Apple released the Thunderbolt Bus that has some interesting capabilities.

USB 3.0

  USB 3.0 is the latest rendition of the USB format supporting transfer speeds of up to 5Gb⁄s. The bus is backward compatible with USB 2.0 devices. USB 3.0 is not supported by Apple natively, however we offer a CalDigit card that adds that connectivity to Apple computers or older PC’s if it’s needed.

  USB 3.0 has had a surprisingly slow introduction to the market. We first started testing USB 3.0 host cards and other components in early 2010 and we’re still waiting for what we want to become available. Currently the majority of USB 3.0 storage enclosures that are being marketed have a single drive per cable connection. This is due in large part to the high cost of multi-drive USB 3.0 chipsets and the lack of bridge development because of that high cost. A drive enclosure with a single drive bridge isn’t very cost effective and that style of enclosure tends to be a consumer grade model, usually with no drive cooling and a brick power supply.

  We’re working with a manufacturer to design a USB 3.0 bridge that allows up to 5 drives to be attached to a single cable allowing improved performance at a lower cost. As soon as that product has passed our in-house testing we will add USB 3.0 capability to our Burly product line. Many laptop and motherboard manufacturers have begun adding USB 3.0 ports to the computers sold since early 2010. It’s about time that we had professional grade Burly enclosures configured with that bus connection.

THUNDERBOLT

  
Thunderbolt, which was originally code named "Light Peak" for those who have been following the development, is an interface for connecting data storage and peripheral devices to a computer. The Thunderbolt connection format has been developed by Intel in partnership with Apple. The first computers released with the technology were the Apple MacBook Pro starting in late February 2011. The Apple DisplayPort and PCI Express bus capability have been combined into a format that can be daisy chained and supports hubs to allow up to 7 Thunderbolt devices to be attached. The Thunderbolt connection can also be used to connect up to two displays. The PCI Express bus and Thunderbolt combination allows data to be carried over longer and less expensive cables. Since the PCI Express bus already has wide industry support, Thunderbolt can be added to existing products fairly easily.

  Thunderbolt was originally developed to use fiber optic cabling (hence the original name "Light Peak") however the first generational release uses conventional copper cabling allowing for up to 10 Gb⁄s at a lower initial cost. The added benefit of the copper conductor cabling is it’s ability to also supply power to devices, similar to Firewire. Intel is working on the second and third generation Thunderbolt, both of which will use optical cabling. Starting with the second generation an all optical system will be released followed closely with a system that will use faster hybrid optical cables with copper power conductors and optical transceivers to greatly increase performance and make possible a longer connection length. Using the optical cables and an infrared signal connection distances of over 100 meters will be possible.

THE FUTURE

  Even though Thunderbolt is already available in some Apple computers it will take some time before we start seeing wide spread peripheral availability. Intel is still fine tuning the chips and the board manufacturers will take several months to bring their products to market. We’ll probably start seeing some availability very late this year or early 2012. Likewise, USB 3.0 is currently available on computers, but the promised multi-drive enclosures have yet to be delivered.

CONCLUSION

  As components for these technologies become available and fine tuned Burly Storage will begin offering them in our Burly product line. Customers that already own Burly Enclosures will be able to upgrade their current enclosures to these new technologies for minimal cost. That’s the beauty of the Burly modular design. We’ll try to keep abreast of component availability and offer these upgrades as soon as possible. Stay tuned...

updated 3-30-11