Intel and others initiated the USB 3.0 Promoter Group to propose the concept of a USB interface able to deliver over 10 times the speed of USB 2.0 connection.

Other big companies involved in this are HP, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments Incorporated.

The new Universal Serial Bus 3.0 is meant to create a backward-compatible standard keeping the easy use and plug and play capabilities of previous USB technologies, being optimized for low power and improved protocol efficiency.
The new technology is targeting the transfer applications in the PCs, consumer and mobile segments necessary as file sizes increase beyond 25 GB.

The complete USB 3.0 specification will come out in 2008.