In this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it world of tech trends, the winners are the ones with staying power. Hyped products (let’s name a few: the laserdisc, Windows Vista, the Segway and Nintendo Virtual Boy – Google them) titillated journalists but ultimately left consumers uninterested.

In the realm of computer peripheral interfaces, USB 2.0 is the architecture that has gone the distance where others have become bit players. In fact, more than three billion USB 2.0-ready devices shipped in 2008 alone.

Into this context enters SuperSpeed USB 3.0. Offering a 10-fold increase in theoretical transfer speeds over its predecessor, USB 3.0 beats all existing interfaces comfortably while offering other significant advantages. LaCie realizes that USB 3.0 matters not just because it’s the next best thing, but because it will become the next interface for consumer electronics. For this reason, we are working hard to be among the first to integrate SuperSpeed USB 3.0 into our product line. In the real world, this wider bandwidth can reduce the time to transfer a 10GB video file from 10 minutes to around three.

LaCie expects USB 3.0 to grow quickly and maintain its relevancy for several reasons. The first is that USB 3.0 dominates the field of peripheral interfaces. USB 3.0 is backward compatible with its predecessor, which means you can always access your USB 3.0 hard drive even if your computer only has a USB 2.0 port. You’ll just get USB 2.0 transfer rates. As a result, USB 3.0 is effectively compatible with millions of existing peripherals and computers. After market, USB 3.0 can be brought to computers through the installation of a USB 3.0 ExpressCard or PCI-Express card.

Additionally, LaCie has partnered with motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte, one of the first companies to integrate USB 3.0 into consumer products. Gigabyte and ASUS are leading the industry in bringing USB 3.0 motherboards to the market, letting early adopters experience the speed and power the new interface offers. With this first push into standardizing the new technology, it won’t be long before the majority of computing devices offer the same USB 3.0 connectivity.

USB 3.0 also provides power to peripherals, while eSATA does not. It is capable of providing more power to devices than USB 2.0 and also requires a third less electricity than its predecessor. Additionally, improved power management means that devices can enter idle, suspend, and sleep states, which means less power drawn from your laptop battery. USB 3.0 also reduces its CPU overhead, which made FireWire 400 a better choice for some tasks than USB 2.0.

There are other signs from the market further predict USB 3.0’s staying power. For example, Apple has ceased shipping consumer-level products with FireWire ports, suggesting their acknowledgement of USB’s dominance. Additionally, In-Stat, the preeminent source of tech market analysis, forecasts “broad adoption” of the interface over the next few years. As a result of pro-USB analysis and the signs from major players, peripheral manufacturers, including LaCie, are racing to produce the hardware to capitalize on this trend.

Even the latest interfaces don’t seem poised to truly compete with USB 3.0. Light Peak, Intel’s adventure to develop a multi-protocol interface, is worth keeping an eye on but is years from being ready for implementation. S3200, the successor to FireWire, features significant improvements over its predecessors but fails to outperform USB 3.0.

Consistently at the leading edge of innovation and market trends, LaCie understands that market inertia favors USB 3.0 and, consequently, we were among the first peripheral manufacturers to integrate USB 3.0 technology. Have you met our award-winning Rugged yet? It's now available with USB 3.0, and we can guarantee you'll see more innovative USB 3.0 solutions from us in the near future. Stay plugged in.