After some delay, the industry forces responsible for USB connectors are starting to bring to market a much faster version of the standard, USB 2.0. Several companies at Comdex announced upcoming USB 2.0 products, including PCI connector cards and hubs, which will be based on NEC's controller chips. These basic components will become available starting in January and should become increasingly common as the year progresses. However, Intel and VIA both said it is too early to plan on integrating USB 2.0 compatibility into their chipsets or onto motherboards.

　　The transition to USB 2.0 should be smoothed by the fact that current USB 1.1 peripherals and cables will work with it seamlessly. Unlike some connection standards that will run only as fast as the slowest device connected to a chain, when USB 1.1 and 2.0 peripherals coexist, the faster devices will still run at the full 480 million bits per second.

　　In some ways, USB 2.0 has been a response to the 1394 connection standard (otherwise known as Firewire or i.Link) that has been sponsored by Apple and Sony as the best way to send real-time multimedia data between devices. As a result, 1394 has had widespread acceptance among makers of digital cameras, which send uncompressed video over the 400Mbps connection. In contrast, USB 2.0 is expected to have strong applications in connecting imaging devices like printers and scanners.

　　On the Comdex floor, we also found companies planning to make USB 2.0 audio products, such as mixing boards, that will be able to process many more than USB 1.1's limit of four audio tracks at a time. USB 2.0-to-IDE converter cards should be available early next year, and drive makers may soon integrate this functionality to produce fast and portable storage devices.