Media Hardware Gets Thunderbolt At NAB

Devin Coldewey

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011


Although Thunderbolt isn’t found on PCs yet, it’s already made its Apple debut, and that’s enough for some. And now accessory makers are getting into the game as well, following up on the initial gear from LaCie and Pegasus.

Three companies (so far) have announced new devices supporting or shortly to support Intel’s new standard. Blackmagic Design put out the UltraStudio HD breakout box, AJA showed off a preview of an editing accessory device it called the Phaser, and Matrox announced its MXO2 line of I/O boxes will ship with Thunderbolt in July.

As expected, these first devices are aimed at professionals for whom that increased bandwidth really means a productivity boost. But it’s far from clear whether Thunderbolt will be adopted at large by consumers, so chances are the big guys like Logitech and Western Digital are prototyping internally and waiting for the right moment to strike (or not strike).

[via Ars Technica]