Firewire

You have probably heard the term FireWire if you have any interest in digital video -- or maybe you know it as IEEE 1394, the official name for the standard.
Firewire is a way to connect different pieces of equipment so they can easily and quickly share information. Originally created by Apple and standardized in 1995 as the specification IEEE 1394 High Performance Serial Bus, FireWire is very similar to Universal Serial Bus (USB). The designers of FireWire had several particular goals in mind when they created the standard:
* Fast transfer of data
* Ability to put lots of devices on the bus
* Ease of use
* Hot-pluggable ability
* Provision of power through the cable
* Plug-and-play performance
* Low cabling cost
* Low implementation cost

Fast and very useful

Firewire is one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed, which makes it great for use with multimedia peripherals such as digital video cameras and other high-speed devices like the latest hard disk drives and printers. The IEEE 1394 interface is a serial bus interface standard for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer, frequently used in a personal computer (and digital audio and digital video). The interface is also known by the brand names of FireWire (Apple Inc.), i.LINK (Sony), and Lynx (Texas Instruments). Though not as widely used, the 1394 standard also defines a backplane interface. FireWire has replaced Parallel SCSI in many applications, due to lower implementation costs and a simplified, more adaptable cabling system. IEEE 1394 has been adopted as the High Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) standard connection interface for A/V (audio/visual) component communication and control[1]. FireWire is also available in wireless, fiber optic, and coaxial versions using the isochronous protocols.