1394 Definition

The IEEE specification for a data transport bus between a host computer and peripherals, such as high-density storage devices and high-resolution still and video cameras, and is designed to eliminate the bottleneck at the serial port of a LAN-attached PC. 1394 increases the speed of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) to100, 200, and 400 Mbps to support take full advantage of high speed LANs. A single 1394 port can support up to 63 peripherals over a six-conductor cable up to 4.5 meters in length, and as many as 16 cables can be daisy-chained to extend the total length to as much as 72 meters. IEEE 1394 is known as FireWire in Apple Computer terminology. See also bus, daisy chain, host, LAN, PC, peripheral, and SCSI.