USB 2

PCs, Peripherals and Consumer Electronics
Getting on the Universal Serial Bus

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., February 26, 2003 - With Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 succeeding the first generation USB standard, USB saw continued success in 2002, according to In-Stat/MDR. The high-tech market research firm reports that in 2002, PC manufacturers adopted the new standard very quickly; to the extent that all desktop PCs shipped by the end of 2003 will be USB 2.0-enabled. As the standard is adopted by notebook PCs and, eventually, PC peripherals and consumer electronics devices, the total number of USB-enabled devices will increase from approximately 375 million in 2002 to 863 million in 2007, a CAGR of 18.2%.

“With the ability to offer 40 times the speed of USB 1.x, USB 2.0 significantly raises the total amount of bandwidth available in a single host design,” says Brian O’Rourke, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR. “This had been a limiting factor in USB 1.1, and should help to expand the penetration of USB in high bandwidth applications such as external storage.”

In-Stat/MDR has also found that:

PC peripherals that require higher speeds have begun to adopt USB 2.0, including hard disk drives, optical drives, and scanners. Other PC peripheral devices, including printers, hubs, and PC cameras, will also adopt USB 2.0 in time, but do not have the same speed requirements.
Consumer electronics devices will adopt higher speed USB 2.0 at a slower rate than PC peripherals, but most will eventually adopt the new standard. Many of the devices in this category are not as closely tied to the PC as the peripheral market, and often do not have the same speed requirements. The emergence of less expensive embedded USB 2.0 solutions, as opposed to discrete solutions, will help to drive its adoption in these types of markets.
Another new USB standard, USB On-The-Go (OTG), made an initial appearance in the market in 2002. Intended to connect portable devices without the need for a PC host, silicon makers are targeting applications such as PDAs and mobile phones.

The report, USB: PCs, Peripherals & Consumer Electronics Get On the Bus (#IN030579MI), contains five-year forecasts for USB 1.x, USB 2.0 and USB On-The-Go penetration into 33 separate applications. Responses on USB from In-Stat/MDR’s annual Residential Technology Survey are included in the report. Brief profiles of major USB silicon and IP suppliers are also provided.

USB 2.0 Expected to Achieve Rapid Success

Electronic News-- 4/8/2002

The universal serial bus (USB) is one of the most successful interface standards in the history of PCs. USB was designed as an open interface standard to provide a common interface between PCs and peripherals, eliminating the need for legacy connections such as serial, parallel and PS/2 ports. Over time, the USB standard has evolved. USB is a master/slave architecture requiring a host, usually a PC, and has evolved over time to include some consumer electronics products. Host, peripheral and operating system all must support USB for the interface to operate. By all accounts, the USB standard has been a huge success, having been installed into approximately one billion devices at the end of 2001.

The original USB 1.0 standard, with a maximum data rate of 1.5Mbits/sec., was released in 1996. The USB 1.1 standard followed, with a maximum data rate of 12Mbits/sec. and backward compatibility with USB 1.0, opening the market for peripherals and consumer electronic products that required higher throughput.

USB 2.0 is the latest update to the USB standard, with a maximum data rate of 480Mbits/sec., significantly raising the total amount of bandwidth available in a single host design. The increased pipe should help expand the penetration of USB in high-bandwidth applications such as external storage devices and PC cameras.

The introduction of USB 2.0 in PCs will happen in three phases. The first phase was the introduction of PCI add-in cards in late 2001. The second phase was the introduction of a discrete host controller in the motherboard of some high-end PCs, such as Gateway Computer Corp.'s 700XL desktop PC introduced in January 2002. Intel Corp. also released two desktop motherboards, with NEC USB 2.0 host controllers. The third phase will be the integration of USB 2.0 capability into a core logic chipset. Intel will offer this capability in its 845G chipset in the second quarter of 2002, with other chipset manufacturers expected to follow in the second half of the year.

Once USB 2.0 begins to penetrate the PC market, USB 2.0-equipped PC peripherals and consumer electronics should follow. In addition to external storage and PC cameras, scanners, printers, network hubs and digital modems are expected to quickly adopt USB 2.0. In consumer electronics, MP3 players, digital camcorders and digital cameras will quickly adopt USB 2.0, too.

USB 2.0 should gain rapid acceptance in the marketplace. According to the In-Stat/MDR report "USB: The Universal Connection," USB 2.0 will be a worthy successor to previous USB specifications, with a 220 percent compound annual growth rate predicted between 2001 and 2006.

Author Information

Brian O'Rourke is a senior analyst for multimedia service and Internet access devices. He can be reached at borourke@instat.com. In-Stat/MDR is owned by Reed Business Information, the parent company of Electronic News.

Press Releases

USB Remains King of PC and Peripheral Interfaces

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 12, 2002 - The Universal Serial Bus (USB) will continue its reign as the most successful interface in the history of PCs, with USB 2.0 completely penetrating the PC market over the next two to three years and PC peripherals and consumer electronics following closely behind, according to In-Stat/MDR. The high-tech market research firm reports that, as availability of bandwidth becomes increasingly important, USB 2.0 (capable of 40 times the speed of USB 1.1) is poised to successfully succeed the first generation USB standard, experiencing a 220 % Compound Annual Growth Rate from 2001 to 2006.

“USB has definitely conquered the PC and peripherals markets since its introduction in 1996”, says Brian O’Rourke, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR. “Today, USB connections can be found in a range of devices, from PC cameras to scanners, printers, digital camcorders and digital modems.” PCs will adopt the new 2.0 standard quickly and those enabled with USB 2.0 host controllers will be seen on the market in large numbers in the first half of 2002. PCs with USB 2.0 integrated into the core logic chip set will come to market in the second half of 2002. Those devices which require higher speeds, such as external hard drives and external optical drives, should also adopt the new standard quickly, with significant numbers of these devices coming to market in 2002.

In-Stat/MDR has also found that:

Another new USB standard, USB On-The-Go, will come to market in 2002. Intended to connect portable devices without the need for a PC host, silicon makers are targeting applications such as PDAs, portable digital music players, and mobile phones.
Gateway has been the most aggressive PC manufacturer on USB 2.0. On January 7th, 2002, the company released the 700XL, the first desktop PC with a USB 2.0 interface. In addition, Intel has released two desktop motherboards, the D850MVSE and D845BGSE that support up to five USB 2.0 ports.
Consumer electronics will tend to convert to USB 2.0 more slowly than peripherals. One reason is that, for the most part, speed requirements for consumer electronics are less than those for peripherals. Second, consumer electronics tend to have more options for transferring data, including flash cards, serial ports, IEEE 1394, Bluetooth, and IrDA.