IBM UltraPort was a nonstandard USB 1.1

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

 port used by IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 on its range of ThinkPad

ThinkPad

ThinkPad is line of laptop computers originally sold by IBM but now produced by Lenovo. They are known for their boxy black design, which was modeled after a traditional Japanese lunchbox...

 laptop

Laptop

A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...

 computers.

Description

Electronically the UltraPort connector is identical to the standard USB port. UltraPort uses a proprietary mechanical connection, so UltraPort devices cannot be plugged into a normal USB interface. However the UltraPort devices shipped with an adapter which allowed them to be attached to a regular USB port.

Select ThinkPad models from 2000 to 2002 came with an UltraPort connector on the top edge of the laptop's screen, and IBM sold a variety of laptop-relevant UltraPort devices, including webcam

Webcam

A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...

s, speakers

Computer speaker

Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity built-in speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier. The standard audio connection is a 3.5 mm stereo jack plug often color-coded lime green for computer sound cards...

, and microphone

Microphone

A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...

 arrays.

UltraPort was designed in 1999 in response to the proliferation of many laptop computers from Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

, Fujitsu

Fujitsu

is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....

, and others that had built-in cameras.

See the corresponding ThinkWiki article for more information