The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced yesterday that the specification for USB 3.1 has been completed and is available for download by device manufacturers. While USB 3.1 is no surprise, having been announced early this year, the publication of the spec opens the door for manufacturers to begin making and selling devices that comply with the fast interconnection standard.
USB 3.1, AKA SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps, remains backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices, but adds higher speeds to the USB architecture. With a 10 Gbps top throughput, the new standard matches the initial Thunderbolt data rate while being much less expensive to implement.
