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The ExpressCard add-in standard for notebooks is to be updated tobring on board compatibility with USB 3.0, the PCMCIA organisationannounced at CeBIT this week.
ExpressCard 2.0 will double the data transfer rate between card andhost to 5Gb/s - just above USB 3.0's target data speed, 4.7Gb/s.ExpressCard 2.0 will support USB 3.0 - aka SuperSpeed USB - allowingcard makers to utilise the bus technology in, for instance, memory cardreaders so that inserted sticks appear as Mass Storage devices.
The new ExpressCard version will also bring the standard, currentlyat release 1.2, into line with the PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 specificationnow appearing on motherboards and add-ins like graphics cards.
Compatibility with older ExpressCard 1 products will be maintained, the PCMCIA promised.
The organisation said ExpressCard slots can now be found on around95 per cent of all new laptops. True, but many of them will go unused.Time was when the old PCMCIA slot - later renamed PC Card - was the waylaptops got modem, Ethernet and, later, wireless links to the outsideworld. These days, all that comes built in, making ExpressCard a formore niche technology than its predecessor.
It's not clear when the PCMCIA expects to have the ExpressCard 2.0spec done and dusted. Presumably, it's waiting on completion of USB3.0. SuperSpeed is expected to be completed by the end of June 2008.