Yahoo!Finance reports that Philips, Intel and Silicon Image have demonstrated the world's first DVD+RW drive with an integrated serial ATA (S-ATA) interface. S-ATA is said to become the mainstream interface for optical storage drives by 2004:
Serial ATA will replace Parallel ATA in the very near future. Serial ATA allows PC manufacturers and users to eliminate the bulky Parallel ATA ribbon connectors that provide connectivity between motherboard and ATAPI devices. In addition to allowing easy connectivity inside the PC and lowering costs relative to Parallel ATA, Serial ATA also enables a growth path for higher performance transfer rates for storage peripherals like DVD+R/RW data drives. Serial ATA provides a storage interface that meets the needs of computers for now and the next decade. The first optical drives with Serial ATA are expected to become commercially available by the end of 2003 and become mainstream in PCs by mid 2004. |
Philips' DVD+R/+RW drive with Serial ATA interface is developed in close cooperation with Silicon Image and Intel, and is a result of Philips' co-development partnership with BenQ. At the Intel booth, the system recorded live video in real time directly onto a DVD+RW disc.
"We are pleased that Philips is leading the way in optical storage with this industry's first-ever DVD+RW/+R device with integrated Serial ATA interface," said Jason Ziller, Intel technology initiatives manager and Serial ATA Working Group chairman. "This is an example of one of the leading device manufacturers is preparing themselves to convert from Parallel ATA to Serial ATA for optical products."
Great news in my opinion since faster transfer rates are always more than welcome! And besides that S-ATA cables are a lot smaller and handier than the current IDE flatcables. Read the complete press release here.
Source: Yahoo!Finance
