IOGEAR is now shipping new PCI cards for Mac users. The PCI cards are designed for connecting FireWire 800 devices to a users system. The cards come in either two or three FW 800 port configs. According to IOGEAR:
IOGEAR has launched the first PCI cards for the new high-speed peripheral standard FireWire 800, also known as IEEE 1394b.
IOGEARis cards allow computers to become FireWire 800-enabled for users to network and access all upcoming FireWire 800 devices, including hard disk drives, digital cameras, scanners and video camcorders.
At data transfer speeds of up to 800 Mbps, double the current FireWire 400 standard, Appleis FireWire 800 provides more than two times the available bandwidth of Hi-Speed USB 2.0.
The FireWire 800 interface is backward compatible with existing 100, 200 and 400 Mbps FireWire peripherals. IOGEARis PCI cards allow both Mac and PC computers to become FireWire 800 compatible. One card offers three FireWire 800 ports, while the second offers two FireWire 800 ports and one standard FireWire 400 port. With FireWire 800, high-speed peripherals can be connected externally, eliminating the need to install complicated internal hardware.
You can find more information about the FireWire 800 PCI cards at the IOGEAR Web site. Both FireWire 800 PCI cards are available for US$99.99.