USB Implementers Forum, Inc. (USB-IF) is a nonprofit organization created to promote and maintain USB (Universal Serial Bus), a set of specifications and transmission procedures for a type of cable connection that has since become used widely for electronic equipment. Its main activities are currently the promotion and marketing of USB4, USB 3.2, USB Power Delivery, USB Type-C, and the maintenance of standards and specifications for the related devices, as well as a compliance program.
The USB-IF was initiated on December 5, 1995,
In 2015, the seven-person board of directors, with Jeff Ravencraft as USB-IF president and chief operating officer, consisted of representatives of Apple Inc., HP Inc., Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Renesas Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments.
Vendor ID issuance
A vendor identification is necessary for obtaining a certification of compliance from the USB-IF. The USB-IF is responsible for issuing USB vendor identification numbers to product manufacturers. The cost for issuing this number is US$6,000 per year. Additionally, the use of a trademarked USB logo to identify certified devices requires a license fee of US$3,500 for a 2-year term. Some microcontroller manufacturers offer a free or low cost sublicense of their vendor ID for development/testing and limited production (generally less than 10,000 units). Vendors offering this free service include:
- Dream S.A.S.
- Energy Micro
- FTDI
- Luminary Micro
- Microchip
- NXP
- Silicon Labs
- STMicroelectronics
- Texas Instruments
Alternatively, many members of the open source community promote the use of USB VID 0xF055 (which looks when written like "FOSS") for open-source hardware projects. Although this VID is not registered to any company (as of October 2015), the USB-IF have not released any confirmation about reserving it for this particular purpose.
See also
- MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)
- Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)
- UEFI Forum