1394 Trade Association Cites First FireWire 800 Hard Drives as Kickoff
to New Era in Consumer, Computer, Peripheral Connectivity
-- MacWorld 2003 Product Introductions Demonstrate Industry's Optimal Audio-Video Connectivity, as New Version of 1394 Goes Commercial --
Dallas, Texas, Jan. 7, 2003 - Leaders of the 1394 Trade Association today said the arrival of the first computer and storage products built with the new ultra high speed FireWire 800 multimedia bus offers consumers the industry's best-ever audio-video connectivity, and sets the stage for a new, exciting era of networking based on the enhanced IEEE 1394b standard.
Product announcements at the annual MacWorld Conference in San Francisco came from Apple Computer, with its new
Powerbook
G4; Maxtor Corp., with its new 200GB FireWire 800 concept hard drive; and LaCie, with its new line of desktop d2 FireWire 800 drives, ranging from 200GB to 500 GB.
All the new FireWire 800 products are based on the 'b' version of the IEEE 1394 multimedia standard, developed by the 1394 Trade Association. 1394b delivers speeds starting at 800 megabits/second, scalable to 1.6 Gigabits/second, then to 3.2 Gigabits/second. It also extends the distance that FireWire-equipped devices can send video and audio to more than 100 meters over CAT-5, plastic fiber and other media.
"These first FireWire 800 products are lightning fast, and deliver the connectivity speed title to IEEE 1394," said James Snider, executive director of the Trade Association. "The new hard drives from La Cie and Maxtor incorporate the 800 Megabits/second speed created by the latest version of the 1394 standard. It's a great advance for FireWire, a major step forward in the development of powerful home networks. We expect 2003 to be a banner year for impressive FireWire 800 consumer and computer products."
Snider echoed comments from Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of worldwide developer relations, who said Apple is pleased that developers are aggressively adopting the new FireWire 800 version of the 1394 specification.
Company Leaders Cite New Generation of FireWire
Other leaders in the consumer and computer industries supported the benefits of the new 'b' version of IEEE 1394 and the first FireWire 800 products.
"The 1394b standard is a technology breakthrough, allowing secure, long distance, very high bandwidth connections in home and commercial environments, with data rates at multiples of existing technologies," said Robert Perry, director of marketing for Mitsubishi Electronics America, a pioneer in 1394-equipped television technology. "It enables high definition content, video-conferencing and other multiple high-bandwidth connections, and is designed for streaming content, as well as TCP/IP. All of this exciting new performance is coupled with 1394's traditional ease of use."
"FireWire 800 sets the stage for a huge leap in performance between Macintosh platforms
and their peripherals, giving professionals even more power to harness their creative ideas," said Dominique Battalier, LaCie's Director for Product Development. "Oxford Semiconductor's 922 bridge chip, an S800 PHY from Texas Instruments, and LaCie's expert engineering team provide users with the fastest FireWire hard disk drive available,
"Maxtor Corporation continues its leadership in the storage industry by remaining on the forefront of innovative technologies such as FireWire 800," said Mike Cordano, executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Maxtor.
About the 1394 Trade Association
The 1394 Trade Association is a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of the IEEE 1394 standard. Products equipped with 1394 are marketed under the FireWire™ and i.LINK™ brands. For more information, visit www.1394ta.org
For more information:
Dick Davies
415-777-4161
ipra@mindspring.com
