1394 Trade Association says FireWire is doing just fine
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Nov 12, 2008 at 3:23pm
Apple may have ditched FireWire on its new “unibody” MacBook, but, otherwise, growth in the computer notebook, storage, peripherals, and industrial market sectors continues to propel the FireWire (IEEE 1394) standard to another strong year of growth, according to the 1394 Trade Association (of which Apple is a member). Now in its 14th year, the 1394 Trade Association is a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement and enhancement of the FireWire standard.
New notebook computers from global leaders such as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Sony and others incorporate FireWire (which Apple developed, by the way)—and the 800 Megabit/second version (S800) is now a virtual standard in storage systems from leading manufacturers, sys James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association. The number of 1394-equipped notebookss has increased by approximately 20 percent in 2008.
Snider says that, among the personal computers recommended to users by Consumer Reports in its December 2008 edition, 75 percent featured FireWire, including brands from Sony, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and Hewlett Packard. In addition, Microsoft will support the new 800 Megabit/second version of FireWire in upcoming Windows Version 7 releases next year. Yep, that’s right. It seems a lot of companies are more enthused about the technology than Apple is.
In fact, Snider says the popularity of FireWire has been “registered enthusiastically” in the weeks following Apple’s decision to remove it from the MacBoo,. A petition requesting its reinstatement has drawn signatures from users worldwide. Comments from users about the decision have been collected and appear in a list of weblogs and postings with links to articles and quotes. The comments are also on the 1394 Trade Association web site.
“The overwhelming support for FireWire is proof of the strength of the technology and the value users place on it,” Snider says. “The feedback also points to the value that applications realize as users and designers continue to adopt the more powerful FireWire800 standard. There is every indication that Apple executives are paying attention to the FireWire discussion and want to address users’ concerns.”
He adds that virtually all HDV cameras continue to rely on FireWire for transfers, including some models that have become very popular with independent producers. The installed base of FireWire camcorders is still enormous, including many high-definition applications, Snider adds.
Also, most pro and semi-pro cameras continue to use FireWire, because HDV remains preferred over AVCHD. And many professionals also select MacBooks and use them for on-the-road capture. “FireWire also remains the preferred interface for multichannel audio,” says Snider.
Among other key market sectors, the number of 1394-equipped set top boxes shipped worldwide is up more than 25 percent in 2008. Computer peripherals that incorporate FireWire are purportedly growing between 17 to 20 percent.
Snider says that new markets for 1394 also are now emerging. The 1394-Automotive standard has been developed as a major specification for vehicle entertainment, navigation and other automotive applications, and the first 1394-equipped vehicle networks will begin contributing to applications growth in 2009. Also, the completion of the new UWB over Coax specification has added a powerful and efficient new standard for whole home networking.
“1394 has continued its strong growth across a broad range of applications and market sectors in 2008,” says Snider. “FireWire delivers the best speed and performance of any standard for a wide range of applications, as evidenced by stable and steady increases in 1394’s adoption globally in the hard disk storage, industrial camera and automation markets. And the 1394-Automotive standard, which was developed in conjunction with major automakers worldwide, is gaining significant traction now, bringing the comprehensive in-vehicle network to cars beginning next year.”
“Macsimum News” is a proud supporter of Planet Gumbo, which feeds the hungry. We urge you to help them in their efforts.
tony Says:
how is USB moving forward? USB2 has been around nearly as long as FW400 and USB3 isn’t available (to consumers) for about another year. ...and have you thought about the extra load (& heat) that 10x (?) the data rate is going to place on already maxed CPU (forced host controller under USB architecture) ?? USB3 is Intel’s biggest scam yet to make us dependent on chip upgrades. Oh and USB3 rates will probably be only 50% of advertised 4.8G - just like USB2 actual vs advertised.
Posted on November 12, 2008
Stevew Says:
I thought FW1600 and 3200 were finalised recently (less than a year a go). I know a lot of the spec was laid down when FW800 was finalised but AFAIK it wasn’t finished until late last year.
Posted on November 12, 2008
Jason Says:
Firewire is doing just fine… now that’s just funny, and James Snider is a funny guy.
The Firewire Trade Association is one of the world’s biggest ‘do-nothing’ groups. They put out a couple press releases per year, claiming how much they are doing, but if you actually look at what is being done, it amounts to nothing, nada, zip. Yes, there are a few groups looking at it, and they like to show them off, but as a whole, there is little beyond the spec sheet that has become real in the past five years. The FTA is almost as responsible for the demise of Firewire as Apple is for not using it. James Snider can talk a mean game, but he could not walk it to save Firewire’s life. Firewire users do more for it than the FTA has ever done.
Posted on November 13, 2008
Bill Burkholder Says:
You can’t convince me USB is worth using in a high-speed, sustained demand environment such as video editing. Apple made a major statement by removing FW from the new MacBook, and by including only FW800 on the MacBook Pro. (That would be, “if you need professional data transfer speed, get the MacBook Pro.")
Eric Anderson, the inventor of FireWire at Apple, has been the leading guru of high speed serial communications since his days as VP Engineering for Clear Light, Inc. in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I’m sure at least some of his guidance is behind a lot of the forthcoming developments in the future of FireWire. When FW1600 or 3200 or whatever is released, I’ll be among the early adopters. It will just work. FW800 rocks my hard drives for video editing.
Posted on November 14, 2008
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
dave Says:
FireWire appears to be dead-ending. Nobody is bothering with adopting any of the newer, faster versions of FireWire. Both FW1600 (ratified what, 5+ years ago) and FW3200 (1+ years ago) don’t even have a chipset that manufacturers can buy.
USB 3 will wipe FireWire out, simply because USB is moving forward and making progress while FireWire is effectively standing still.
Posted on November 12, 2008