acpi

Research Brief

Microsoft, TAIS, And Intel Publish Power Management Spec

Þ Microsoft, Intel and Toshiba America Information Systems (a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp.) have joined twenty other system vendors to announce the publication of the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), a hardware independent specification for PC power management. Microsoft will be supporting the emerging digital video disc (DVD) applications running under Windows 95 and NT through its Win32 Driver model class drivers and ActiveMovie and DirectDraw application programming interfaces (APIs).

Workgroup Strategic Services’ Analysis

Microsoft is using the ACPI specification as the foundation for its OnNow initiative and will support future versions of Windows (including NT) as well as other operating systems. ACPI is designed as a cross platform open specification, therefore Workgroup Strategic Services believes it will gain popularity as vendors produce PCs that look and act more like home appliances than typical computers. ACPI allows PCs to control devices in the home and on the network. Workgroup Strategic Services expects to see consumer based PCs using ACPI to run the household entertainment centers as well as the environmental controls for the home. Corporate users will find the scheduling of automated tasks much easier and users will find increased control over peripherals connected to the PC.

Announcement Highlights

With ACPI, PCs can turn on automatically when accessed by a user, and can perform automated tasks after the PC has been turned off. Vendors hope to use the specification to further integrate the PC within home entertainment systems, automated home environmental controls, and other tasks. ACPI allows a PC to turn on and off myriad peripheral devices connected to a PC, including VCRs, CD-ROM and hard drives, network cards, printers and many other devices. Vendors supporting ACPI have promised products based on the specification during the second half of 1997. The following is a list of ACPI supporters:

Acer America Corp.

American Megatrends Inc.

Award Software International Inc.

Chips & Technologies

Compaq Computer Corp.

Dell Computer Corp.

Digital Equipment Corp.

Fujitsu Limited

Gateway 2000 Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

ITE

Integrated Technologies Inc.

Intel Corp.

Kontron Electonik

Mentor ARC Inc.

Microid Research Inc. & Unicore Software Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Mitsubishi PC Division

National Semiconductor Corp.

Phoenix Technologies, Ltd.

SystemSoft Corp.

Toshiba America Information Systems

Via Technologies Inc.