Today’s release means that developers can now begin designing products based on SATA 6Gb/s technology, although work continues on the specification, including advances for data streaming and better power management.
The new specification is said to keep the low cost and power of the current 2.0 spec and will maintain backward compatibility by keeping the existing SATA connector configuration. The same currently-used cables and connectors will be able to connect SATA 6Gb/s devices, although SATA-IO recommends utilizing "quality components" to ensure data integrity and robust operation at the fast 6Gb/s transfer rate.
IDC’s research says that SATA has become the primary storage interface with more than 650 million SATA hard disk drives shipped since its introduction in 2001.
SATA Revision 3.0 is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.