Intel throws Thunderbolt – USB 3.0 Smackdown!

The Register’s Chris Mellor says that now we know why Intel was dragging its feet with USB 3.0 support – it’s got its own competing interconnect that’s twice as fast in Thunderbolt (formerly known as Light Peak).

Thunderbolt is a 10Gbit/s, bi-directional, dual channel, copper link containing an Intel controller chip and supporting two protocols: DisplayPort and PCIe — basically a serial bus…

Mellor predicts that FireWire is definitely going to be blasted away, we can eventually forget eSATA as wel, and if Thunderbolt is cheap enough we can kiss USB 3.0 goodbye too.