DisplayLink Inc. has disclosed plans to ship a chip that enables video to run in "SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 standard devices in the second half of 2010, which would allow its use in consumer products as early as next Christmas.

In spite of rumors that the first USB 3.0 products wouldn't surface until the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Buffalo Technology has beaten all comers to the punch by announcing today it was shipping its new DriveStation HD-HXU3 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 drive.

It seems every hard-drive manufacturer wants in on the USB 3.0 race. Digital product manufacturer Dane-Elec have announced a new line of external hard-drives that support the new faster USB 3.0 standard, claiming they will be the first company to release a product of its type here in the US.

The USB 3.0 race heated up Wednesday, as Buffalo made it known that its previously announced HD-HU3 range of hard drives will be the world's first SuperSpeed USB drives to make it to market when they ship in Japan later this month.

It seems as if we've been writing about USB 3.0 forever, but it has really been only about two years since Intel and other parties formed a promotional group for USB 3.0 in 2007. The spec was completed in November 2008, at which time the standard's backers said that a glut of devices would hit the market late this year. Well, that statement turned out to be almost right: Devices are coming very soon, but the glut won't be until next year.