The case against Thunderbolt

Rick Merritt, EETimes
2/28/2011 11:00 AM EST

SAN JOSE – Intel Corp.'s new high-speed I/O technology, Thunderbolt, is leaving some people feeling burned. Rather than drive a new interface into the market, they want to see the chip giant give its full attention to a successful, existing one—USB.

Thunderbolt brings new costs and complexity to deliver two bi-directional 10 Gbit/second copper links that won't open up any major new applications, they say. USB 3.0 is already available at data rates up to 5 Gbits/s over copper and, like Thunderbolt, can also ride optical links in the future.

Simply put, Thunderbolt "is a mistake," said one big Intel customer.

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