American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a leading provider of computer technologies, today presented the advantages of the EFI Framework software model for server Reliability, Availability and Serviceability (RAS) features at Intel Development Forum Fall 2005 in San Francisco.
 
The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) specification, originally produced by Intel, defines the interface between firmware and operating system, introducing a new firmware model based on extensible drivers. Current implementations of the software are generally based on the Intel® Platform Innovation Framework for EFI and the Framework specification.
 
AMI will demonstrate the advantages of EFI for the server market. Today's servers are employed in business-critical applications that require 24/7 continuity of service. The computer industry is striving to provide features that minimize both the likelihood of faults (reliability) and the time required to restore systems in a working condition (serviceability), to increase the overall time a system is available to perform required services (availability).
 
Firmware compliant with the EFI and the Intel Platform Innovation Framework for EFI ("the Framework") specifications, such as AMI Aptio®, provides enhanced features that add RAS features and improve the firmware developer's ability to quickly deploy RAS solutions.
 
EFI provides a specified and testable interface for firmware code that enables developers to implement a robust boot loader, simplifying "failover boot" solutions. When a server fails to boot, such routines will automatically trigger a warning to the administrator or trigger a diagnostic boot.
 
Pre-boot diagnostics & maintenance can be performed using the EFI shell, a full-featured utility shell, which can greatly enhance the serviceability of the platform. This shell complements pre-boot recovery applications such as AMI Rescue™.
 
The standard interfaces defined by EFI allow development of more effective RAS features for servers, with the possibility to utilize them across IA32, Intel EM64T and Itanium architectures. Development of RAS features is facilitated by centralized error handling in the "Data Hub" repository.