Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), the consortium in charge of the SATA interface, today announced its Power Over eSATA initiative. SATA-IO has begun work on a new specification that will provide power to external SATA (eSATA) devices without the need for a separate power connection. Today, eSATA devices require an external power adapter to supply the necessary voltage for operation. Led by the organization's Cable and Connector group, the specification is targeted to provide power for a single drive directly from the host system using the Power Over eSATA cable. Key benefits will be to maintain compatibility with the existing eSATA connector form factor and retain high performance at the current maximum interface transfer rate of 3Gb/s. Power Over eSATA solutions are expected to be available on the market as soon as the second half of 2008.