Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 14.22. Thunderbolt Technology logo.
Similar to FireWire, Thunderbolt connections can be daisy-chained. This means that a peripheral
device can have two Thunderbolt connectors, allowing users to connect multiple devices to a PC via
Thunderbolt cables between the devices in a chain. The technical details of Thunderbolt include
• Dual-channel bidirectional full-duplex connections.
• 10Gbps transfer rate per channel in each direction.
• Electrical cables up to 3 meters in length.
• Electrical cables providing up to 10W of power for bus-powered devices.
• Cables and devices that are hot-pluggable.
• Daisy-chaining capability for up to seven devices (including up to two displays).
Some view Thunderbolt as a competitor to USB 3.0; however, Intel has stated that Thunderbolt and
USB 3.0 are complementary technologies and that it will build both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0
connections into future motherboard chipsets. This eliminates the need for separate controller chips
and allows both of these interfaces to be built in to new systems for little or no cost. Because
Thunderbolt is designed to carry both audio/video and data and supports daisy-chaining, it is seen as
more of a competitor to or eventual replacement for FireWire than USB. Thunderbolt is largely
replacing FireWire in high-end digital video editing equipment. Intel has indicated that future
Thunderbolt implementations will support optical cable connections of up to tens of meters in length
and at speeds of up to 100Gbps.
