Icron's Perspective:  USB 3.0

As the leading provider of USB and PC extension solutions, Icron closely follows USB standards development and the marketplace in order to ensure that we bring solutions to the market that most effectively meet the needs of our customers. Most recently, USB has taken the leap from High Speed to Super Speed with the release of the USB 3.0 standard.

The major improvement USB 3.0 offers over USB 2.0 is speed, delivering an almost 10x increase in transfer rates, from 480 Mbps to 5 Gbps. The highest speed USB 2.0 devices shipping today, including hard drives and flash drives (USB BULK transfers) and webcams (ISO transfers), typically reach 250 Mbps of actual data throughput, with most USB 2.0 devices transferring data at much lower speeds. Human interface devices such as Keyboards and Mice, are still primarily low speed USB 1.1 devices consuming much less than even 1Mbps of USB bandwidth. The Super Speed USB 3.0 systems will provide a performance enhancement for newer storage and multimedia devices, greatly improving transfer times for large files and blocks of data while High Speed USB 2.0 will continue to provide cost effective and convenient peripheral connectivity.

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Technology Spotlight:  Options for Extending USB White Paper

Is there a logical convergence for IP and USB?

The explosion in computing technology and the internet has spawned the connected generation. Each day, we work with and carry multiple devices that are network aware and connected to the ever growing global electronic village. Two computing interfaces are at the center of this technology explosion: one providing a simple interface for control, the other providing the interface to connect—USB and IP. This paper explores methods of maintaining and enhancing the value of USB over long reach connections as more and more computing technology converges onto a common IP connection. Is there still a place for USB in the IP connected world, or can IP take over for USB and truly put everything on the network?

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Partner Spotlight:  AdderLink's X-USB
KVM Extension System

Adder Technology of Cambridge, UK, is a leading European developer of KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switching and extender technology. The company's products reduce the complexity, vulnerability and cost of IT environments by providing robust access to and direct control of local computing systems. By embedding Icron’s cost-effective ExtremeUSB® technology into Adder's Series X-USB KVM extender, their customers can significantly extend all USB 1.1 devices over long distances using Cat 5 cable and receive industry-leading video clarity and sound quality.

“Icron’s USB extension development boards and engineering support allowed us to quickly evaluate and integrate our two technologies, significantly reducing our R&D costs and time to market,” stated Adrian Dickens, Managing Director of Adder. “The Adderlink X-USB series offers extensive functionality and flexibility to our customers by allowing long distance control of their USB peripherals with outstanding picture quality in varied multimedia and video applications,” added Dickens.

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