FireWire Keeps Plugging Away

FireWire, the largely forgotten interface standard, has been alive and well. While most of us probably haven’t noticed, the 1394 Trade Association has announced that over two billion FireWire ports have shipped worldwide. That’s quite a feat, although FireWire still isn’t as fast as USB 3.0.

“The two billion ports represents a significant new milestone for 1394,” said Max Bassler, chairman, 1394 Trade Association. “Just as impressive is the innovative and creative application of FireWire in new generations of advanced industrial automation, vision systems, and production equipment. FireWire will continue its steady, stable growth during 2011, as we migrate to the first products operating at 1.6 Gigabit/second bandwidth — and as 1394 proves itself superior to competitive interfaces in a variety of sectors.”

FireWire was created by Apple back in 1995. It has also gone by the brand names i.LINK (Sony) and Lynx (Texas Instruments). While the FireWire aficionados at the 1394 Trade Association see “steady, stable growth” in 2011, USB 3.0 is expected to prevail as it becomes more widely available this year.