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RME User Forum → HDSP(e) series → Thunderbolt
Let us begin wildly speculating and making unreasonable demands of the RME staff about the development and roll out of RME devices based on Thunderbolt/LightPeak.
I'll get us started:
When can I use my RPM with Thunderbolt on this old G4 powerbook I have lying around? WHY NOT?
Joking aside, it looks like an interesting technology and with higher bandwidth to drives and devices it's bound to make a difference.
And begin...
...and it stops here as it is not relevant to RME audio interfaces.
Thunderbolt...MC, are you sure?
Industry Support
Several innovative companies have announced Thunderbolt enabled products, or plans to support Thunderbolt in upcoming products including Apple Inc., Promise Technology, Inc., and LaCie. Intel is working with the industry to enable a variety of Thunderbolt enabled products including computers, displays, high speed data storage devices, audio/video devices, and more.
"We're thrilled to collaborate with Intel to bring the groundbreaking Thunderbolt technology to Mac users," said Bob Mansfield, Apple's senior vice president of Mac Hardware Engineering. "With ultra-fast transfer speeds, support for high-resolution displays and compatibility with existing I/O technologies, Thunderbolt is a breakthrough for the entire industry and we think developers are going to have a blast with it."
– Bob Mansfield, Senior Vice President of Mac Hardware Engineering, Apple Inc.
"Welcome to the future, Thunderbolt technology enables the fastest and simplest I/O for connecting AJA's award-winning professional video capture and playback products to your laptop."
– John Abt, CEO, AJA
[large]"Thunderbolt technology is connectivity without compromise and will enable the full promise of Symphony I/O, Apogee's professional digital audio recording platform."
– Betty Bennett, CEO, Apogee[/large]
[large]"We are very excited by the capabilities of Thunderbolt technology. To have two 10Gbps, bi-directional, multi-protocol channels in a single cable is a great step forward for high performance audio and video solutions."
– Max Gutnik, Sr. Director, Product Management, Avid Technology[/large]
"Thunderbolt technology will revolutionize mobile media creation. It's a game-changer and will accelerate our ability to build the highest quality video creation products that are affordable to everyone."
– Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic
"Thunderbolt technology is a breakthrough in I/O technology and represents the future of mobile computing. Soon you will be able to carry all the power and functionality of desktop environments in compact devices."
– Philippe Spruch, Chairman and General Manager, LaCie
"Pegasus family storage products will be blazingly fast with Thunderbolt technology, consumers and creative professionals alike will experience a remarkable leap in performance."
– James Lee, CEO, Promise Technology
[large]"Technology like this only happens about once a decade. We are thrilled about the performance and simplicity Thunderbolt technology will bring to our award-winning UAD Powered Plug-Ins platform."
– Bill Putnam, CEO, Universal Audio[/large]
"Western Digital believes Thunderbolt technology will bring both new performance levels and simpler connectivity for consumers to access and enjoy their digital media in new and innovative ways."
– Dale Pistilli, VP Marketing, Branded Products, Western Digital Corporation
Looks promising IMO. I doubt we would see any backwards compatible bridges for RME HDSP boxes (RME needs to sell new hardware 
), but new product lines seem imminent from the fantastic specs and slow dissolution of Firewire and ExpressCard on newer laptops. I could see this making its way to Desktops, too for ease of portability across multiple systems.
And since this is an Intel based technology, the chipsets and low-level drivers should be of high quality and won't have the stupid Firewire compatibility issues DAW users have suffered through for over a decade now.
I love the Multiface/Digiface breakout box concept - and only recently moved to HDSP MADI for higher channel counts (the next best thing to the Digiface type breakout concept with a single pair of MADI Fiber cables to the DAW, and that's it). Using ThunderBolt as the bus for a new generation of high-quality breakout boxes makes perfect sense IMO.
Seems like a no-brainer to me...
I'm sure MC is aware of the technology...
Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME
RME User Forum → HDSP(e) series → Thunderbolt
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