Yesterday, in our article about SanDisk's new products, we mentioned that Intel was preparing its keynote for the 2015 edition of COMPUTEX. One of the most important announcements from that event is the Thunderbolt 3 interface. Beyond increasing speed and reducing power consumption, Thunderbolt 3 will use the physical USB Type-C connector, a major step toward standard unification and lower costs for cables and accessories.
A Long History with the USB Standard
Few people know the story involving Intel and the folks behind the USB standard. Before Intel announced Thunderbolt, the plan was to use USB physical ports, but the USB Consortium rejected it, so Intel implemented Mini DisplayPort instead. Four years later, the landscape has completely changed. Both USB 3.1 and USB Type-C brought multiple benefits, and the idea of a multi-protocol interface was almost immediately on the table. As a result, Intel confirmed during its presentation at COMPUTEX 2015 that the third generation of Thunderbolt will use the reversible USB Type-C connector, with options for passive cables at 20 gigabits per second and active cables that double that speed.
Alternate Mode and Alpine Ridge
This is possible thanks to the "alternate mode" in USB Type-C. The mode gives manufacturers the ability to carry other protocols that may or may not be accompanied by USB data. The marriage between Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C will bring tangible benefits such as 40 gigabits per second of bandwidth, the connection of two 4K displays simultaneously, and support for up to 100 watts in device charging (it is estimated that several companies will be able to replace power supplies with active cables). The new resources also imply the creation of a new controller, Alpine Ridge, which will include USB 3.1 support and will allow (for example) a Thunderbolt monitor to be equipped with USB 3.1 ports.
External Graphics Cards Are Finally Coming
As if that were not enough, there is more good news for hardware enthusiasts: Thunderbolt 3 will finally give the green light to external graphics cards. Until now, all solutions had been developed by third parties, and compatibility was very limited, but Intel managed to solve two critical technical details: "hot-plug" and the surprise disconnection of graphics cards. In other words, even the most humble system with Thunderbolt 3 will be able to run the latest games using an external GPU. Thunderbolt 3 also extends support for 10Gig Ethernet emulation, and there will be a whole series of adapters so that current Thunderbolt devices work correctly with the new version. Production will begin at the end of the year, and most products will hit the shelves in 2016. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but according to this information, Thunderbolt 3 is very close to being an almost perfect interface. I hope so.
