superspeed_usb_10gbps.pngASMedia Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company that develops and markets high-speed IO solutions, demonstrated SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps (USB 3.1) data transfer on its hardware development platform at the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) annual members meeting in Honolulu. This demonstration marks the first public showing of a working SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps PHY. ASMedia also constructed a hardware prototyping platform consisting of a PCI Express® add-in card with ASMedia’s own PHY and implementing ASMedia’s SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps Host and Device Controllers with SSD under RAID.

“ASMedia aimed to demonstrate the real user scenario. As SSD adaption rate is growing, we believe that SSD with RAID will be the ideal product that can leverage USB 3.1 (10Gbps) bandwidth. With ASMedia’s solution, user can enjoy the performance enhancement through USB 3.1. Just as with USB 3.0, we look forward to working closely with the USB ecosystem to enable the successful deployment of the USB 3.1 products into the market,” said Chewei Lin CEO of ASMedia Technologies. “This demonstration represents our commitment to being a key player of USB technology and to helping our customers deliver first-to-market solutions with leading edge product performance.”

“The USB-IF is excited to see a live demonstration showing the first SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps PHY from ASMedia,” said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President & COO. “There is a growing demand for higher through-put capabilities and by adopting USB 3.1 companies can better meet the needs of their customers while still maintaining backwards compatibility with existing USB 3.0 software stacks and device class protocols, existing 5 Gbps hubs and devices, and USB 2.0 products.”

USB technology is one of the most successful specifications in the history of computing, and in its newest revision, USB 3.1, the data transfer rate jumps to 10 Gbps/s on a bi-directional link, more than double the effective bandwidth of the already fast SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) standard. The USB 3.1 specification primarily extends existing USB 3.0 protocol and hub operation for speed scaling along with defining the next higher physical layer speed as 10 Gbps.