The USB Consortium has finalized the specifications for the next evolution of the USB standard, fixing the name as USB 3.1. The new standard will cap transfer speeds at 10Gbps, and will be fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, albeit at their theoretical transfer rate caps.

The USB consortium consists of 712 members, including Intel, Microsoft and most of the popular laptop manufacturers like HP and Dell.

The members seem fairly excited about the new standard. “The USB 3.1 specification primarily extends existing USB 3.0 protocol and hub operation for speed scaling along with defining the next higher physical layer speed as 10 Gbps,” said Brad Saunders, USB 3.0 Promoter Group Chairman.