WD and NEC partnered to raise USB 3.0 standard with new storage interface tech

WD and NEC Electronics have collaborated to raise the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard with new storage interface technology targeting electronic devices such as personal computers, computer peripherals, and digital appliances.

USB 3.0 supports data transfer rates of up to 5 gigabits per second (Gbps), which is 10 times faster than the high-speed USB 2.0 transfer speeds.

WD and NEC Electronics plan to develop a USB Attached SCSI Protocol (UASP) driver to deliver hard disk drives with high performance, mass-storage capacity. UASP is a high-performance mass-storage protocol developed for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to overcome the performance boundaries of the Bulk Only Transfer (BOT) protocol, which has been used for traditional USB 2.0 speeds. The new UASP driver will be used with NEC Electronics' USB 3.0 xHCI (eXtensible Host Controller Interface) host controller (part number µPD720200).

"The wide adoption of external storage, for both expanding and backing up internal computer storage, highlights the need for faster interface transfer rates. The USB 3.0 interface offers a significant advance in data transfer speed," said Robert Caddy, Jr., vice president of engineering for WD's Branded Products Group. "We are pleased to collaborate with NEC Electronics as a leading supplier of USB host devices in the introduction of USB 3.0 technology to the storage market."

"Partnering with WD enables us to combine our USB transfer technology with WD's data storage technology and provide added value to our customers," said Masao Hirasawa, deputy general manager, Home Multimedia Division, NEC Electronics Corporation. "Starting with the new HDDs, WD and NEC Electronics are working together as the industrial leaders to expand USB 3.0 marketplace offerings with the highest quality and performance solutions while speeding time to market."