The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) has today announced its new "Power Over eSATA" initiative. This new specification provides a solid steady form of power to eSATA devices without the need for a seperate power cord to the system which has been required by the majority of standard eSATA devices to date.

If only they could have done it right the first time and made this a standard to begin with; but as they say, better late than never.

Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), the consortium dedicated to sustaining the quality, integrity and dissemination of SATA technology, today announced its Power Over eSATA initiative. SATA-IO has begun work on a new specification that will provide power to external SATA (eSATA) devices without the need for a separate power connection. Led by the organization?s Cable and Connector group, the specification is targeted for completion in the second half of 2008.

Today, eSATA devices require an external power adapter to supply the necessary voltage for operation. The new SATA-IO specification will eliminate this requirement by providing power for a single drive directly from the host system using the Power Over eSATA cable. Key benefits will be to maintain compatibility with the existing eSATA connector form factor and retain high Performance at the current maximum interface transfer rate of 3Gb/s (gigabits per second). External SATA offers the only 3Gb/s bus optimized for storage performance.