IEEE 1394

Protocol to the high-speed interface for connecting devices developed by Apple Computer and approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which enables data transmissions of up to 400 megabits per second. IEEE 1394; also widely referred to as FireWire is an international high-performance serial-bus standard that offers the real-time data transfer of video, audio and peripheral applications through a universal I/O interface. With this technology, digital cameras, CD-ROMs, printers, hard-disk drives and audio/stereo equipment can move data at high speeds to desktops and portable computers through a single cable.

FireWire is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. The trademark was filed in 1993. The "FireWire" name was chosen by a group of engineers socializing before Comdex 1993, just before the project was about to go public. IBM, Apple, Texas Instruments, Western Digital, Maxtor and Seagate were all showing drives, systems and other various FireWire support technology. The marketing forces behind the FireWire project had originally considered a name like "Performa".

Full support for IEEE 1394a and 1394b is available for FreeBSD, Linux and Apple Mac OS X operating systems. Microsoft Windows XP supports 1394a and 1394b, but as of Service Pack 2 the default speed for all types of FireWire is S100 (100 Mbit/second).

Details info: http://www.pctechguide.com/12Interfaces_IEEE_1394.htm