USB 4 gets logos indicating 20Gbit/s and 40Gbit/s speeds

By admin On Jan 10, 2020

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The USB IF organization has unveiled the logos for the USB 4 generation. There will be different logos for the 20Gbit/s and 40Gbit/s variants of the generation. In addition, a 5Gbit/s logo for superspeed USB has been added.

The USB IF organization published the logos for usb 4 during CES. These are the general logos for packaging, the logos for ports and cables and for drawers. The organization simply sticks to ‘usb’ in the logos, supplemented with the maximum link speed of either 20Gbit/s or 40Gbit/s in the designation.

The organization uses the superspeed USB designation for the brand names of the USB 3 generations, also in the logos. There were already logos for the 10Gbit/s and 20Gbit/s variants of superspeed+ and USB IF now adds a logo for the 5Gbit/s speed “to better indicate the level of performance”.

USB 4 is based on Thunderbolt 3 and offers a total throughput of 40Gbit/s. The USB 4 specification distinguishes between a USB 4 gen 2 speed of 10 Gbit/s per lane, for a total of 20 Gbit/s, and a USB 4 gen 3 speed of 20 Gbit/s per lane, for a total of 20 Gbit/s. total of 40Gbit/s. Just like Thunderbolt 3, the basis of usb 4 is pci-e and displayport. The maximum throughput speed for data transfer via a single USB connection is 20Gbit/s, but it is also possible to connect two displayport interfaces, for example, to make use of the total 40Gbit/s link.

The purpose of usb 4 is to have as much functionality as possible via the usb type c connector and usb 4 only runs via this connection. Now that the base is Thunderbolt 3, the 4 name should indicate that the technique is taking a different tack, where usb 3.1 and usb 3.2 were evolutionary steps to increase the bandwidth. Thunderbolt 3 functions such as daisy chaining and connecting external video cards also come to USB and the bandwidth can be dynamically distributed.

The USB IF is in the process of certifying the first USB 4 products this quarter and is expected to be released in the second half of this year. However, the first superspeed 20Gbit/s products, based on the USB 3.2 2×2 specification, are not even available yet. However, some products were shown during CES, such as a prototype of an 8TB SSD from Western Digital.