Sonnet Technologies has announced the Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe, a professional 4-port, 4-controller SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCI Express 2.0 adapter card with charging capabilities.

The Allegro card provides users with a way to add four USB 3.0 ports, each providing full 5Gbps bandwidth, to Mac Pro and Windows computers with PCIe slots, and to Thunderbolt-to-PCI Express card expansion chassis. This Sonnet pro adapter card supports bus-powered hard drives, SSDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray devices through each of its ports, and supports simultaneous sync and charge of iPads and other devices that support USB 3.0 charging.

Sonnet’s Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe card is equipped with four independent USB 3.0 controllers, with each port receiving its own dedicated bandwidth. As a result, the Sonnet pro card supports data transfers up to 450 MB/s per port and up to 1800 MB/s aggregate for the card, enabling high-speed data transfers between connected drives. 

Sonnet specially engineered the Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe card to provide extra power through its ports without the need for the user to connect an auxiliary power cable, according to CEO Robert Farnsworth. Delivering up to 10W of power per port, this Sonnet solution supports USB 3.0 bus-powered hard drives, SSDs, DVDs and Blu-ray devices without the need to connect an additional AC power adapter. The Allegro Pro card also supports the USB 3.0 charging specification that enables users to charge and sync simultaneously iPad, iPhone and other devices that support USB 3.0 charging.

The Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe is a full-height PCIe 2.0 card that can be installed into any x4 mechanical or larger PCIe slot in a Mac Pro tower or Windows desktop or server computer. The card is also fine for use in any Thunderbolt-to-PCIe card expansion system, such as Sonnet’s Echo Express line, xMac Pro Server, or xMac mini Server. The combination enables users to add four more SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports to the iMac, Mac mini, new Mac Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro computers with Thunderbolt ports. 
The card is backed with Sonnet’s 5-year warranty. More information on the Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe is available at http://tinyurl.com/phzg639 .