Do any of the following sound familiar? Intel is not only driving but actually creating the USB 3 specification, while at the same time refusing to share the full spec with the industry, oh and don't forget that it has 'borrowed heavily' from the PCI Special Interests Group.
They all do to Intel spokesman Nick Knupffer, which is probably why he has taken the opportunity to dispell what he refers to what he calls myths about USB 3 and set the record straight via the Views@Intel blog.
The problem, according to Knupffer, seems to be that the media has not been making a proper distinction between the USB 3 spec and that Intel Host Controller which supports it. While there is, of course, an Intel involvement in the USB 3 spec itself, that involvement is as part of the USB 3 Promoter Group which also includes HP, MSFT, NEC, NXP and TI. Not to mention the other 180 or so companies that fall under the contributor company umbrella, such as AMD and Nvidia if you want to home in on chipset makers, who are also helping with the final stages before the spec is made available later this year.
"In parallel, but separately" Knupffer insists "Intel is investing heavily in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology. Think of the host controller spec as a ‘Dummies Guide’ to building a USB 3.0 compatible piece of silicon; it is NOT the USB 3.0 specification itself... Intel plans to make this spec available early in second half of 2008 with a no-royalty licensing obligation." As for the 'not sharing' allegation, Knupffer says this is just good development practise arguing that "as an Intel specification Intel has the responsibility to insure that specifications we deliver to the industry are fully developed and mature enough for others to use."
And the PCI-SIG tech borrowing thing? Well that is simply not true, Knupffer says, insisting that Intel routinely provides technologies and intellectual assets to the industry through participation in standards development via special interest groups. "Intel has provided significant technical input on the PCI Express architecture developed in the PCI-SIG" he tells us, concluding "Intel has also provided significant technical input on the USB specifications developed by the various USB Promoter groups over the last decade, including USB 3.0 (Hint: read between the lines, we contributed to both)."