According to the [1394 Trade] Association, as of mid-2004, FireWire had been designed into more than 1,600 products and 150 million electronics devices worldwide. IEEE 1394 can now deliver 800 Mbits/s over distances up to 100 metres

History of the IEEE 1394 Standard
The 1394 digital link standard was conceived in 1986 by technologists at Apple Computer, who chose the trademark 'FireWire', in reference to its speeds of operation. The first specification for this link was completed in 1987. It was adopted in 1995 as the IEEE 1394 standard. A number of IEEE 1394 products are now available including digital camcorders with the IEEE 1394 link, IEEE 1394 digital video editing equipment, digital VCRs, digital cameras, digital audio players, 1394 IC's and a wealth of other infrastructure products such as connectors, cables, test equipment, software toolkits, and emulation models.