Intel owns ‘full rights’ to the Thunderbolt trademark, not Apple (UPDATED with clarification from Intel)

Chip maker Intel had stressed they, not Apple, own all Thundebolt trademarks. Even though Apple and Intel collaborated on this high-speed I/O technology featured on the 2011 MacBook Pro and iMac families, the confusion arose when Patently Apple discovered that Apple filed for the Thunderbolt brand name trademark, their third since the technology debuted on the new MacBook Pro family in February of 2011. Few were convinced Apple owns the trademark, including Cult of Mac’s Ed Sutherland who asked, “Who the heck owns Thunderbolt, Intel or Apple?”

Deciding enough is enough, Intel has now made claims it owns the Thunderbolt trademark. Responding to an inquiry from Theo Valich over at Bright side of news, Intel’s senior communications manager Dave Salvator provided this statement:

As part of our collaboration with Apple, they did some of the initial trademark filings. Intel has full rights to the Thunderbolt trademark now and into the future. The Thunderbolt name will be used going forward on all platforms, irrespective of operating system.
[UPDATE May 20, 2011 3:15am Pacific] Intel’s representative has contacted the publication with additional clarification. To make a long story short, Intel and Apple have agreed that the iPhone maker will transfer their Thunderbolt trademark to the semiconductor giant. Valich explains:

Apple filed for the original trademark and is now transferring that trademark to Intel. At the same time, Apple will continue to have unrestricted use of the technology. 3rd party implementations such as Sony’s desire to use USB Connector instead of DisplayPort and the eventual change of technology branding (Sony’s IEEE1394 a.k.a. Firewire implementation was named i.LINK) will have to be ironed out as the time passes by.

I guess this invalidates Apple’s ahead-of-time November 2010 Thunderbolt trademark filed with the US and Canadian trademark offices in Jamaica. And what about another Thunderbolt trademark claim from Apple that surfaced in the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s database on May 11, 2011? The situation is getting murkier with each passing day, if you ask us.

Another interesting tidbit came when Valich asked Intel’s Salvator to reflect on future Thunderbolt implementations based on optical connectivity (current version uses copper wiring for cost reasons).

“The (Thunderbolt optical) cable could carry power in the same cable (running next to optical part of cable), but exact product plans are still to be announced”, Salvador said.

*thanks 9to5Mac*

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Matrox announces 7 Thunderbolt products

image via Allan Tepper

We’re getting some information out of NAB that Matrox just announced it will be first to market with 7 products on built on Thunderbolt including an adapter that will allow all older MXO family products to work with Thunderbolt enabled Macs.

Update: Matrox just updated its Facebook Page with this:

Exiting News from Matrox just released at NAB: Thunderbolt support for all existing and new MXO2 Products! Full Connectivity with all platforms for video playback, capture and streaming, on laptops or desktops (PC & MAC). Thunderbolt adapter can be purchased separately for existing MXO2 Owners, or can be bundled with any new MXO2 Product.

*thanks 9to5Mac*

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Hands on Demonstration of Thunderbolt in Action [Video]

Check out this hands on demonstration from Engadget of how Thunderbolt works and just how fast it really is.

You can learn more about the technology here.



*thanks iclarified*

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An Overview of the New Thunderbolt Technology

Thunderbolt is a revolutionary I/O technology that supports high-resolution displays and high-performance data devices through a single, compact port. It was developed through a collaboration between Intel and Apple and uses the same mini Displayport connector that was previously only used for connecting an external monitor.

Apple offers the following description of the new technology.

Powerful technology from a powerful collaboration.
Thunderbolt began at Intel Labs with a simple concept: create an incredibly fast input/output technology that just about anything can plug into. After close technical collaboration between Intel and Apple, Thunderbolt emerged from the lab to make its first appearance in MacBook Pro.

Intel co-invented USB and PCI Express, which have become widely adopted technologies for data transfer. Apple invented FireWire and was instrumental in popularizing USB. Their collective experience has made Thunderbolt the most powerful, most flexible I/O technology ever in a personal computer.

One small port. One giant leap in possibilities.
MacBook Pro now gives you access to a world of high-resolution displays and high-speed peripherals with one compact port. That’s because Thunderbolt is based on two fundamental technologies: PCI Express and DisplayPort.

PCI Express is the technology that links all the high-performance components in a Mac. And it’s built into Thunderbolt. Which means you can connect external devices like RAID arrays and video capture solutions directly to MacBook Pro — and get PCI Express performance. That’s a first for notebooks. Thunderbolt also provides 10 watts of power to peripherals, so you can tackle workstation-class projects on the go. With PCI Express technology, you can use existing USB and FireWire peripherals — even connect to Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks — using simple adapters.

And because Thunderbolt is based on DisplayPort technology, the video standard for high-resolution displays, any Mini DisplayPort display plugs right into the Thunderbolt port. To connect a DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, or VGA display, just use an existing adapter.

Performance and expansion never seen on a notebook before.
With 10 Gbps of throughput in both directions, Thunderbolt I/O technology lets you move data to and from peripherals up to 20 times faster than with USB 2.0 and more than 12 times faster than with FireWire 800. Two 10-Gbps channels on the same connector mean you can daisy-chain multiple high-speed devices and a display, without using a hub — and without reducing performance.
High-Speed I/O Performance

USB 2.0: 480 Mbps
FireWire 800: 800 Mbps
Express Card: 2.5 Gbps
USB 3.0: 5 Gbps
Thunderbolt: 10 Gbps

High performance on display.
Thunderbolt I/O technology provides native support for Mini DisplayPort displays. It also supports DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, and VGA displays through the use of existing adapters. So you can connect your Apple LED Cinema Display or other existing display, along with multiple high-speed devices, all from a single port.
No project is too massive.

Now you can create a professional video setup for your MacBook Pro, just as you would for your Mac Pro. If you’re a video editor, imagine connecting high-performance storage, a high-resolution display, and high-bit-rate video capture devices to handle all the post-production for a feature film — right on your notebook. Thunderbolt I/O technology allows you to daisy-chain up to six new peripherals, such as the Promise Pegasus RAID or LaCie Little Big Disk, or five peripherals and an Apple LED Cinema Display.

And that’s just the beginning. With Thunderbolt technology, peripheral manufacturers finally have what they need to take high-performance devices from workstations and top-of-the-line desktops to portable computers.







*thanks iclarified*

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Could the iPad 2 Mystery Port be for Light Peak?

Early cases for the iPad 2 have shown a space for a new port that could possibly be a Light Peak connector, according to MacRumors.

Previous reports suggested that the port could be for a Mini DisplayPort, or Mini USB.

MacRumors suggests the port could actually be for Light Peak.

Light Peak prototypes have been using hybrid USB 3 connector connectors that might easily be confused for USB. The exact connector for Light Peak hasn't been described, but it may be close enough to USB to be a case of mistaken identity in the early iPad 2 rumors. The opening for the port may be a bit small for a full-sized USB connector, though it seems feasible that the Light Peak could also adopt a mini USB style form factor as well.

Interestingly, CNET reports that Apple is expected to make an announcement about a new high speed connection technology







Early cases for the iPad 2 have shown a space for a new port that could possibly be a Light Peak connector, according to MacRumors.

Previous reports suggested that the port could be for a Mini DisplayPort, or Mini USB.

MacRumors suggests the port could actually be for Light Peak.

Light Peak prototypes have been using hybrid USB 3 connector connectors that might easily be confused for USB. The exact connector for Light Peak hasn't been described, but it may be close enough to USB to be a case of mistaken identity in the early iPad 2 rumors. The opening for the port may be a bit small for a full-sized USB connector, though it seems feasible that the Light Peak could also adopt a mini USB style form factor as well.

Interestingly, CNET reports that Apple is expected to make an announcement about a new high speed connection technology



*thanks iclarified*


This seems unlikely, who would this benefit? There are no Light Peak compatible computers and there won't be enough for this to make any sense for at least another year or two...


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