Intel cancels FireWire plans

Lack of demand has caused Intel Corporation to cancel its plans to add"FireWire" IEEE 1394 support to its next-generation motherboard designs. FireWire is a high-speed digital bus interface originally developed byApple Computer as a way to aid high bandwidth video applications. For thePC, FireWire would have been used as the primary component of the DeviceBay technology that allows peripherals to be hot-swapped (added andremoved while the computer is on, without rebooting) out of a standardizedopen bay. The Device Bay specification was designed by Microsoft, Intel,and Compaq Computer.

Since Intel won't be adding native support for FireWire to its chipsets,computer companies will need to add this support themselves if they wishto use the technology in their systems. Add-in cards from a variety ofcompanies are already available, but the lack of support from Intel suggests that universal support for the standard has come and gone. LikeUSB (Universal Serial Bus), FireWire got off to a slow start, though USBlooks to be successful once Windows 98--with native USB support--arrives