Icron Technologies unveils 20-meter USB 3.0 cable, mostly because it can
Looked at your stash of USB 3.0 cables lately? Chances are that each and every one of 'em are three meters or shorter, and there's good reason for that. Signal degradation over long distances is a problem that the world at large has been dealing with since the early days of human life, but somehow or another, Icron Technologies has figured out how to bend physics. The company has just announced a partnership with Intersil Corporation, and the two are linking up in order to produce a 20 meter USB 3.0 cable. Reportedly, it'll deliver a full 5Gbps of USB 3.0 throughput over the full 20 meters, but there's no mention of a price. Rest assured, it'll be far more than you're prepared to pay.
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Icron and Intersil to Demonstrate Industry's First 20-Meter USB 3.0
Extension Cable at CES 2011
Icron and Intersil's Joint Development Delivers Longest USB 3.0 Cable for Fast Growing Home, Office and Industrial Markets
BURNABY, British Columbia and Milpitas, CA – January 5, 2011 Icron Technologies (TSX Venture: IT), providers of high performance video and USB extension solutions, and Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: ISIL), today announced they will be demonstrating their jointly-developed, industry's first 20-meter USB 3.0 extension cable designed for home connectivity, digital signage, medical imaging and industrial automation applications at CES 2011 (Icron booth: South Hall 1 Lower Level 20560).
Icron and Intersil jointly developed the 20-meter USB 3.0 high-performance extension cable that delivers full 5Gbps of USB 3.0 throughput over 20 meters - well beyond the 3 meter cables currently available in the market today. Key to achieving such high performance levels is Intersil's Q:Active™ analog signal processing IC running 5Gbps data rate while extending the reach of USB 3.0 superspeed signals. Additionally, the cable incorporates Icron's LionsGate IC, featuring ExtremeUSB® technology, which enables extending signals for all USB 1.1/2.0 devices over the entire 20-meter length of the cable.
The 20-meter USB 3.0 extension cable is fully compatible with USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices. Unique features of the 20-meter USB 3.0 extension cable include support for USB 3.0 at 5Gbps, USB 2.0 at 480Mbps and USB 1.1 at 12Mbps. It also powers remote devices with 5V/150mA power, supports USB hubs and is bus-powered from the host PC (no external power supply required).
"USB is the most successful computer peripheral interface in the world with over 10 billion devices shipped in the market to date," said Huibert Verhoeven, Vice President and General Manager, High-Speed Products Group at Intersil. "Icron and Intersil's new 20-meter USB 3.0 cable development shows how consumers can have ultimate flexibility in deploying new USB 3.0 devices wherever they want without distance limitations."
"By combining two best of breed technologies, Intersil's Q:Active technology and Icron's ExtremeUSB® technology, we were able to jointly develop an extended reach USB cable that not only is the industry's first and supports new and legacy USB devices, but also serves the different markets and applications in the home and office." said Robert Haefling, CEO at Icron Technologies.
Applications of the 20-meter USB 3.0 extension cable include:
* Remote video terminals with touch screens
* Remote external hard drives
* iPod/Smartphone synching stations
* High-definition security cameras
* Multi-room USB audio systems
* Industrial and medical machine control
Availability
The 20-meter USB 3.0 extension cable is currently sampling to key OEMs. For more information, please visit www.icron.com/USB 3.0. Intersil's Q:Active technology is showcased at http://www.intersil.com/activecables/.
About Icron Technologies Corp.
Icron Technologies (TSX-V:IT) is an innovative leader in the development and manufacturing of high performance video and USB extension solutions for commercial and industrial markets worldwide. Icron's patented ExtremeUSB® technology extends PC Video and USB devices over many media types including Cat 5, Fiber, Wireless, DisplayPort, Coax, Powerline, and over a corporate LAN. Icron's extension products are deployed in a wide range of applications such as digital home connectivity, industrial automation, medical imaging, aerospace, interactive digital signage, remote desktop extension, security and surveillance, enterprise computing, isolated USB, and point-of-sale markets, or anywhere where a PC needs to be remotely located from a display or peripheral device.
