Overview

It s ironic that this chapter on the future of Serial ATA will be the first chapter to become obsolete. We think that the future of Serial ATA is a very worthwhile subject and we hope that you agree. This chapter will become less accurate and less relevant as time passes between the time we finish writing and the time that you are reading.

Let s up-level the discussion for a moment. We all have heard comments similar to Why would anyone need ________________? and we can fill in the blank with:

• a personal computer

• a graphical interface

• a processor faster than 50 megahertz

• more than 16 megabytes of system memory

• more than a 100 megabytes of storage

In hindsight, these questions are laughable. The pace of innovation and performance in PCs, servers, and storage is well documented, and historically, people have demanded more system performance, more storage, and more capabilities. And it seems that every time the computer industry produces the next impossibly fast processor or the next impossibly large storage device with space that no one could possibly consume, someone finds a way to use it all and want even more. So, as we look into the future rather than into the past, we know processors will continue to evolve: 3-gigahertz processors are shipping today and it s not too hard to imagine a 10-gigahertz or 50-gigahertz processor. A PCIX I/O bus capable of 512 megabytes per second is commonplace today, and basic PCI Express that is on the drawing...