Intel and Apple cooperated at the end of the last decade to create the Thunderbolt interface which was designed to be a much faster way to transfer data than the even the ubiquitous USB 3.0. Now a standard fixture on most Macs and a growing number of high-end PC motherboards, the companies did not sit still and have just issued Thunderbolt 2 which doubles the data transfer rate and facilitates even video editors working in the 4K format to move data around at absurdly fast speeds.

Create, edit & view real-time 4K video

The original Thunderbolt was limited to an individual 10 gigabites per second (Gbps) each for the data stream and the display capabilities. Although this is a transfer rate that is more than sufficient for the majority of computer uses, it falls below what is necessary when tackling tasks like video transfer in 4K. Through the technical benefits of Thunderbolt 2, video editors can now create, edit, and view 4K video streams in real time through their computer to a monitor equipped with a single cable, and they can do so while backing up that same file on a series of drives right along the same daisy-chained set of devices. Thunderbolt 2 also features DisplayPort 1.2 support for video streaming on dual QHD monitors.

Same cables & connectors

Your business might not be taking on 4K video editing right away but you certainly have large data transfer needs which Thunderbolt 2 can facilitate. You could back up a file of several terabytes in minutes, rather than hours. These massive data transfers rates can also be of considerable impact in fields such as medical imaging, engineering analysis, and scientific correlations. Another advantage of Thunderbolt 2 is that it uses the same cables and connectors as the original version so that adopters of the new standard won’t have to replace those pricy elements.

A DVD in 2 seconds

Thunderbolt 2 will also be integrated into flash drives which would attach to the Thunderbolt port rather than the USB one. You could walk up to a computer equipped with the new data transfer standard, plug in an empty 128GB flash drive, fill it to the brim, detach it and be walking away in less than one minute. If you’re a movie addict, consider that Thunderbolt 2 can copy a complete DVD in less than two seconds. If you’re an IT manager, you can transfer an entire installed Windows 7 operating system in eight seconds. Try that with any current USB device!

RAID 0 at 11 Gbps

Thunderbolt 2 can also turn your computer’s basic storage into hyperspeed demons. The new data transfer protocol has the ability to combine the speed of all the storage peripherals in any given chain, so two SSDs connected through Thunderbolt 2 will be able to provide a total transfer rate which can exceed 11 Gbps. Home users would configure such a system as RAID 0 on a NAS or SAN while the enterprise might opt for RAID 5 or RAID 6 setup on something along the lines of a NetApp or EMC storage system, but no matter how you implement your data needs Thunderbolt 2 can be a godsend right from Thor himself.

USB 3.0 updated to 10 Gbps

All of this news surrounding Thunderbolt 2 has not gone unheeded in the USB camp as the latest upcoming chipset update should bring the USB 3.0 data transfer rate to the equivalent of the original Thunderbolt which is 10 Gbps. Although this rate would still be half of what Thunderbolt 2 has achieved, there is a much greater installed base of USB devices than Thunderbolts, and this development will certainly boost the entire market segment. The perfect system would integrate both Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0 Update as they are essentially intended for different applications. While the Thunderbolt 2 would be given over to manage daisy-chained devices, the new USB could be used for removable storage since the flash drives are readily available and affordable.

If you’re a heavy-duty data user this is certainly is a time to celebrate, as your life is about to get faster!