1394 TA cites first FireWire 800 products as kickoff to new era in connectivity

„1394 Trade Association cites first FireWire 800 products as kickoff to new era in connectivity\r\n
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\r\n JANUARY 8–Leaders of the 1394 Trade Association (Dallas, TX; www.1394ta.org) say that the arrival of the first computer and storage products built with the new ultrahigh-speed FireWire 800 multimedia bus offers consumers the industry’s best-ever audio-video connectivity and sets the stage for a new, exciting era of networking based on the enhanced IEEE 1394b standard. Product announcements at the annual MacWorld Conference in San Francisco came from Apple Computer, with its new Powerbook G4, with its 17-in. display and FireWire 800; Maxtor Corp., with its new 200GB FireWire 800 concept hard drive; and LaCie, with its new line of desktop d2 FireWire 800 drives, ranging from 200 to 500 Gbits.“;“All the new FireWire 800 products are based on the `b‘ version of the IEEE 1394 multimedia standard, developed by the 1394 Trade Association. 1394b delivers speeds starting at 800 Mbits/s, scalable to 1.6 Gbits/s, then to 3.2 Gbits/s. It also extends the distance that FireWire-equipped devices can send video and audio to more than 100 m over CAT-5, plastic fiber, and other media.\r\n
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\r\n\“These first FireWire 800 products signal the emergence of a new era for 1394/FireWire,\“ said James Snider, executive director of the Trade Association. \“At 800 Mbits/s, we are pushing data-transfer rates in desktops and notebooks to levels never before possible. Based on my conversations with industry insiders, 2003 will be a strong year for FireWire 800 consumer and computer products, with significant growth expected in 2004.\“\r\n
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\r\n\“The 1394b standard is a technology breakthrough, allowing secure, long-distance, very-high-bandwidth connections in home and commercial environments, with data rates at multiples of existing technologies,\“ said Robert Perry, director of marketing for Mitsubishi Electronics America, a pioneer in 1394-equipped television technology. \“It enables high-definition content, video-conferencing, and other multiple high-bandwidth connections and is designed for streaming content, as well as TCP/IP. All of this exciting new performance is coupled with 1394’s traditional ease of use.\“\r\n
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\r\n\“Texas Instruments is excited to enable new FireWire 800 products with the industry’s first 800-Mbit/s 1394b physical-layer device. We will continue to develop and deliver the most advanced 1394b technology. We are seeing a significant amount of interest from our customers and expect 2003 to be a very strong kickoff year for this new generation of FireWire,\“ said Julie Holland, director, connectivity solutions, Texas Instruments.\r\n
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\r\n\“FireWire 800 sets the stage for a huge leap in performance between Macintosh platforms and their peripherals, giving professionals even more power to harness their creative ideas,\“ said Dominique Battalier, LaCie’s director for product development. \“Oxford Semiconductor’s 922 bridge chip, an S800 PHY from Texas Instruments, and LaCie’s expert engineering team provide users with the fastest FireWire hard disk drive available.\“\r\n
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\r\n\“Maxtor Corporation continues its leadership in the storage industry by remaining on the forefront of innovative technologies such as FireWire 800,\“ said Mike Cordano, executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Maxtor. \r\n
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