For the last five years, NIST has been searching for a new hash function to replace the aging SHA-2 function. NIST soon will be announcing the winner from the five finalists that were chosen last year. A co-author of one of the finalists for the SHA-3 function not only isn t hoping that his entry wins, he s hoping that none of them wins. Schneier said there s no compelling reason to adopt a new standard.
Source: https://threatpost.com/forthcoming-sha-3-hash-function-may-be-unnecessary-092412/77042/