The new Firewire

What is the new Firewire, you ask?

“FireWire 800, based on IEEE 1394b, is the newest version of the industry’s multimedia bus, with significant bandwidth, speed, distance and overall performance improvements,” said James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association.”FireWire 800 is the ideal choice for home networking applications, and for a new generation of computer peripherals. It will supplement the original 1394-1995 and 1394a specifications, and lead to expanded adoption of the multimedia standard in many new applications.”

Through my research, I have found read rates and sustained read rates are equal to and better than, respectively, ATA 133. Write times are barely better than Firewire 400. Based on overall stats, Firewire 800 isn’t worth the money. This would explain why manufacturers are not incorporating the technology into their products. I believe that if the write times and other performance issues are addressed, this would be a great solution for home networking. Firewire components are typically external devices that need highspeed interface to your computer. Many existing products can benefit from this technology if it matures in a timely manner. Here are some
stats.