FireWire hits 2 billion ports shipped milestone

Posted on Thursday, January 13 2011 @ 14:39 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
The 1394 Trade Association announced the FireWire interface has hit the two billion ports milestone. It's definitely an impressive number, but I wonder how many of these ports are actually used.
FireWire, the popular computer, consumer electronics and industrial systems interface, reached the two billion ports milestone in 2010 and will continue its steady growth worldwide throughout 2011, the 1394 Trade Association said today.

The two billion FireWire ports shipped provide more than 1.2 billion consumer and computer products with reliable, versatile high-speed connections available from developers of FireWire silicon including Texas Instruments, LSI, and PLX Technology, among others. FireWire continues to be applied in a wide range of PCs, storage systems, new generations of set top boxes, industrial and factory automation equipment, and professional audio systems.

The 1394 Trade Association, which made the announcement prior to its first quarter general meeting in Las Vegas, estimates the total of 1394-equipped devices will increase again in 2011. The group foresees continued expansion into higher speed computing, storage and consumer electronics products, with steady growth of 1394-enabled products in the industrial cameras and instrumentation segments, where FireWire is established as the interface of choice. (see December news release at http://www.1394ta.org/press/TAPress/2010_1213.html) Also, innovative and exciting work being completed by Dap Technology with S1600 and S3200 speeds (see http://www.daptechnology.com/index.php?id=692) is leading to new market opportunities. In addition, the 1394 standard is moving forward in automotive networking applications.

"The two billion ports represents a significant new milestone for 1394," said Max Bassler, chairman, 1394 Trade Association. "Just as impressive is the innovative and creative application of FireWire in new generations of advanced industrial automation, vision systems, and production equipment. FireWire will continue its steady, stable growth during 2011, as we migrate to the first products operating at 1.6 Gigabit/second bandwidth -- and as 1394 proves itself superior to competitive interfaces in a variety of sectors." Bassler added that there is now a new generation of set top boxes with FireWire, providing data transfer speeds of 800 Megabit/second.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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