• USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 RAIDs• Optical Media Drives• Multimedia Devices• Networking• USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 Adapter Cards & HubsCompatibilityThe good news is that USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 has been carefully planned from the start to peacefully co-exist with USB 2.0. First of all,while USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 specifies new physical connections and thus new cables to take advantage of the higher speed capability ofthe new protocol, the connector itself remains the same rectangular shape with the four USB 2.0 contacts in the exact same location asbefore. Five new connections to carry receive and transmitted data independently are present on USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 cables and onlycome into contact when connected to a proper SuperSpeed USB connection.Windows 8/10 will be bringing native support for USB 3.1 Gen 1 controllers. This is in contrast to previous versions of Windows, whichcontinue to require separate drivers for USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 controllers.Microsoft announced that Windows 7 would have USB 3.1 Gen 1 support, perhaps not on its immediate release, but in a subsequent ServicePack or update. It is not out of the question to think that following a successful release of USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1 support in Windows 7,SuperSpeed support would trickle down to Vista. Microsoft has confirmed this by stating that most of their partners share the opinion thatVista should also support USB 3.0/USB 3.1 Gen 1.Technology and components 11