Apple maintains interest in FireWire progress

Posted on 31 Jan 2006 at 12:43

Despite indications that it is less keen on FireWire than it once was, Apple will retain the chair of the board that oversees the high-speed data transfer specification with the re-election of Eric Anderson.

FireWire was developed by Apple before being accepted as the 1394 standard by the IEEE. It is also known by Sony's iLink moniker. It has been widely adopted in environments where stable, high-speed data transfer is critical, notably digital video.

Apple recently dropped FireWire support in favour of USB 2.0 from its iPod range and although its 15 and 17in PowerBooks include both FireWire400 and faster FireWire800 ports, Apple did not include the 800 option in its new MacBook Pro laptop.

Nonetheless 1394 Trade Association executive director James Snider foresees strong growth in 2006. Currently, FireWire400 is included with more than 65 per cent of laptops, with that estimated to rise to 72 per cent this year. By the end of 2006, more than 48 million FireWire-equipped laptops will have shipped, 3 million of which will have FireWire800, as well as 11 million consumer desktop PCs.

'The expanding design activity reflects FireWire's versatility as a multi-purpose technology,' said Snider. 'One of its major benefits is that it can be used for many purposes, and competes so well with single purpose interface technologies such as serial ATA.'

The Association also trumpeted the technology's superiority over USB 2.0, citing evidence of higher read speeds in side-by-side tests, and other data transfer standards.

It said that unlike USB 2.0, PCI-External or external Serial ATA (eSATA), FireWire800 features multiple-source, real-time delivery with no "drops" or misdeliveries under fully-loaded conditions as well as offering full networking capability, using a peer-to-peer architecture in place of 'slower-moving' master-slave configurations that require central processor intervention.

Snider added that the FireWire800 controller is no longer the expensive option.

'There is no significant price premium for FireWire 800,' he said. 'It provides far more performance, too.'

Author: Simon Aughton