S onnet Technologies have added to the FireWire 800 product mix with the announcement of their FireWire 800 PCI host adapter. The card is being dubbed the Allegro FW800, and it offers support for the newest version of FireWire, FireWire 800, to legacy Macs. From Sonnet:
Sonnet Technologies announces the Allegro FW800 adapter card, the latest addition to Sonnetis line of FireWire PCI adapters. The Allegro FW800 installs into any available 64-bit or 32-bit PCI slot of a PowerMac or PC, and instantly adds FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) connections for utilizing high-speed digital peripherals. Each card has three 9-pin external FireWire 800 ports and can connect up to 63 devices. FireWire 800 is double the speed of FireWire 400 and almost twice the bandwidth of USB 2.0. It performs at the data transfer rate of up to 800 Mbits/s and has serial bus data rates of 100/200/400/800 Mb/s. This new Sonnet Allegro FW800 product joins the Sonnet Allegro FW400.
Mac Operating System Requirements:
Mac OS X Version 10.2.3 required for FireWire 800 operation; Version 10.2.5 or higher recommended. Will operate at FireWire 400 speed under Mac OS 9.x through Mac OS X Version 10.2.2.Compatible Models:
- Power Macintosh G3 All-in-one, Blue & White, Desktop, Minitower, Server (Encore G4 upgrade rcommended.)
- Power Mac G4 (all models except Cube)
Sonnet has priced the Allegro FW800 card at US$89.95, and the company says the card will be available in June. You can find more information on the product at Sonnetis Web site.