We are proud to announce the very first standalone firewire to USB 2.0 converter. The Firewater-Pro will allow on the fly conversion of data over IEEE 1394 4-pin or 6-pin cables directly the the USB bus that is already implemented in most current motherboards.

Today's USB devices operate with full compatibility in a USB 2.0 system. The added capabilities of USB 2.0 have expanded the market segment for USB peripherals, while enabling retail products to transition with the installed base. Support of USB 2.0 is recommended for hubs and higher bandwidth peripherals. Designing a USB 2.0 peripheral will be a similar engineering effort to that of designing a USB 1.1 peripheral. Some low-speed peripherals, such as HID devices, may never be redesigned to support the USB 2.0 high-speed capability in order to maintain the absolute lowest cost.

Role of Host PC software. Current applications software on the PC continues to operate with USB 1.1 peripherals and is unchanged. The system software will comprehend the increased capabilities of USB 2.0 peripherals so that it can optimize performance. The system software will also detect sub-optimal configurations, i.e. a USB 2.0 peripheral attached to a USB 1.1 hub, and will alert the user and recommend a better configuration for attaching the peripherals. New applications will be written to take advantage of the higher speed capabilities and ease-of-use of USB 2.0 peripherals and drivers. Role of the hub. A USB 2.0 hub accepts high-speed transactions at the faster frame rate and must deliver them to high-speed USB 2.0 peripherals andUSB 1.1 peripherals. This data rate matching responsibility will require some increased hub complexity and temporary buffering of the incoming high-speed data. In the simplest case of communicating with an attached USB 2.0 peripheral, the hub repeats the high-speed signals on appropriate USB 2.0 upstream and downstream cables just as a USB 1.1 hub repeats full and low-speed signals today on USB 1.1 devices. This allows USB 2.0 peripherals to utilize the majority of USB 2.0 bandwidth. To communicate with USB 1.1 peripherals, a USB 2.0 hub contains a mechanism that supports the concept of matching the data rate with the capabilities of the downstream device. In other words, the hub manages the transition of the data rate from the high speed of the host controller to the lower speed of a USB 1.1 device. This feature of USB 2.0 hubs means that USB 1.1 devices can operate along with USB 2.0 devices and not consume disproportionate amounts of USB 2.0 bandwidth. This new hub architecture is intended to be as simple and cost effective as possible, and yet deliver the full capabilities of 1.1 connections. The new USB 2.0 hub will be completely defined in the USB 2.0 specification providing clear implementation guidelines for hub vendors and allowing a single software driver to service USB 2.0 hub products from multiple vendors.

By adding on the fly conversion from the USB 2.0 to IEEE 1394 (firewire/iLink), vendors and prfessionals will reap the rewards of low-cost high speed transfer without limitation.