USB Historical Highlights

In 1994 Intel was the first computer company to introduce the USB silicon. This year saw the assembling of the USB core companies. Later in 1995 340 companies formed the USB-IF (Universal Serial Bus Implementers Forum) and this is when the first USB was officially introduced. During the following year the USB 1.0 specification appeared and there were already 500 USB products in the stage of development all around the world. In 1997 after the launch of USB 1.1 specification 60 companies more joined the USB-IF forming a group of 400. Apple was the one to ship in 1998 the iMack only with USB ports. This is when USB started its journey to become one of the mainstream technologies. Today we use USB 2.0 which was released in 2000. The wireless USB saw the light in 2005. Since the appearance of the Universal Serial Bus, the IT companies looked forward to make this device one of the most popular gadgets on the market. For the first time the device was officially introduced in 1995. This was the time when seven leaders in the computer industry met at a consortium to analyze and develop the new universal technology meant to be useful not only for PCs. The purpose of the consortium was the whole field of electronic devices. Today this technology is so popular that anyone visiting such supermarkets like BestBuy can purchase a lot of stuff with USB. The most important step in the history of USB was made when its new version was launched – USB 2.0. This made it possible to transfer the information at a higher speed. For comparison: the first USB transferred the information at 12 Mbps; the last version, however, achieved a speed of 480 Mbps. Obviously the initial speed was not enough for some specific applications to operate. For example, simultaneous operation of video and audio files was a big issue due to the bandwidth limitation. The problem was successfully solved with the appearance of USB 2.0. Digital photos could be downloaded in a very short period of time, just counting seconds. USB 2.0 became a very popular choice among both: amateurs and professionals. In the 21st century USB ports became an essential part of every PC or laptop. PDA, MP3 players and digital cameras are to be mentioned as well. More and more attention is given to USB adapters. The latter include: USB-to-Bluetooth, USB-to-wireless control and surely USB flesh memory gadgets. Today even wristwatches, toys and key chains come with USB ports, thus little by little excluding floppy disk drives from the IT market. As the field of information technologies develops the USB becomes more and more essential. Print version