San Francisco Intel and other companies including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC and NXP Semiconductors, have formed a group to help produce, test and promote the new USB 3.0.

The third-generation Universal Serial Bus interconnect will transfer data at speeds up to 4.8Gbit/s, ten times faster than the previous USB 2.0’s which transfers at just 480MBit/s.

Jeff Ravencraft, Intel’s technology strategist, said,

“The digital era requires high-speed performance and reliable connectivity to move the enormous amounts of digital content now present in everyday life. USB 3.0 will meet this challenge while maintaining (USB 2.0’s) ease-of-use experience.”

USB 3.0 will be optimized for low power and improved protocol efficiency. It will also be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0, which is backwards-compatible with the first USB 1.1.

The USB 3.0 ports and cabling will be designed with both copper and optical cable capabilities; this means even higher speeds will be possible in the future.

Intel also revealed a Wireless USB (WUSB) transfer format that operates at 480Mbits/s, the same speed as USB 2.0. In addition they also said they are working on the 1.1 version of the WUSB which operates at a speed of up to 1Gbits/s.

A working prototype of the USB 3.0 has already been presented, however there is typically a one- to two-year lag between the release of the specification and the availability of the technology, so USB 3.0 might not be available in stores until 2009 or 2010