CUT TO RIBBONS

摘要

What do PCs, pigtails and old oak trees have in common? All are places you're likely to find ribbons, but an emerging technology could soon cross PCs off that list. Parallel advanced technology attachment (ATA) has been the interface protocol of choice for desktops and laptops for about 20 years. Also known as IDE (integrated drive electronics), the storage device interconnect owes its longevity to its simplicity, low cost and frequent speed improvements. But according to analysts, the five-centimetre-wide 40-pin ribbon's days are numbered. "There have been more and more demands on the rest of the system," says David Freund, a server technology and storage analyst with Nashua, N.H.-based Illuminata Inc. "Parallel buses have kind of run out of gas. It's harder and harder to get parallel signalling to work at higher and higher speeds as all the other parts of the computer have been speeding up."