Intel not planning to run around and desert USB as Ivy Bridge gets 3.0 certification
 

A few months back, there was some concern that Intel's Ivy Bridge chipset wouldn't come with USB 3.0 certification -- planning to push its proprietary Thunderbolt standard instead. The company acted quickly to soothe the panic of gadget fans concerned they'd have to replace their new external HDDs, but the USB Implementers Forum didn't say much beyond the odd nasty snipe at the new technology. Fortunately, the crew at the USB-IF have now given their blessing toward the union 'twixt 22nm processor and super-speed universal serial bus. Since AMD jumped on this bandwagon back in April, we can pretty much guarantee that we'll be plugging flash drives in the wrong way for years to come.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/15/i...ivy-bridge-ge/