Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a connectivity specification developed by the USB Implementers Forum. USB is aimed at peripherals connecting outside the computer in order to eliminate the hassle of opening the computer case for installing cards needed for certain devices. USB provides for ease of use, expandability, and speed for the end user.

USB is enjoying broad adoption in the marketplace today. Thousands of devices have passed compliance testing, and they continue to be some of the best-selling products in many categories. Also, according to August data from DataQuest, the USB installed base of USB-capable PCs will grow from a mere 6 million PC's in 1996 to over 700 million by the end of 2003.

The current version of USB, revision 2.0, is a higher speed (480Mbs) version that is also fully compatible with USB 1.1. It provides up to 40 times the bandwidth of the old USB 1.1 and is completely backward compatible with older USB hosts. New hi-speed USB 2.0 hosts also support the older USB 1.1 devices in the same tree as the new hi-speed products.

Benefits:

• Easy to use: Simply plug it in - everything configures automatically. True Plug-and-Play! Connect and reconnect peripherals without rebooting your PC.
• Expandable: Plug as many as 127 peripherals into one computer using USB multi-port hubs.
• Speedy: Hi-speed USB 2.0 runs at 480 Mbits/second, and full-speed at 12 Mbits/second

Click here for Frequently Asked Questions on USB from Intel.