I2O
Encyclopedia
Intelligent Input/Output (I2O) is a defunct computer input/output (I/O) specification. I2O emerged from Intel in the mid 1990s with the publication of the I2O specification in 1996 by the Intelligent I/O Special Interest Group
.
I2O was originally designed to make use of the Intel i960
microprocessor as the I/O offload engine, bringing channel I/O
to the PC.
I2O's principal architectural components included the I/O processor (IOP) and a split device driver model, with an OSM (OS Module) running in the host operating system and a HDM (Hardware Device Module) running on the I/O processor. This formally separated OS-specific driver functionality from the underlying device, and the two software components used message passing for communications. This split is suggestive of another initiative in which Intel participated at the time, the Uniform Driver Interface
(UDI), which sought to establish a common device driver interface spanning multiple software platforms.
I2O was plagued by several problems: the i960 was largely a failure and I2O made systems more expensive in a low cost marketplace. Additionally, the I2O SIG was seen as open-source hostile and small-player insensitive because it charged high fees for participation and was dominated by a few corporate players, notably Microsoft. While it remains unclear which of these factors caused the ultimate failure of I2O, only a few server class machines were ever built with onboard I2O. The I2O-SIG disbanded in October 2000, with a small amount of architectural information being made available via FTP at about the same time.
A number of x86-compatible operating systems provided support (or still do) for I2O, including Microsoft Windows
, Linux
, Solaris
, OpenBSD
, and NetWare.
Special Interest Group
A Special Interest Group is a community with an interest in advancing a specific area of knowledge, learning or technology where members cooperate to effect or to produce solutions within their particular field, and may communicate, meet, and organize conferences...
.
I2O was originally designed to make use of the Intel i960
Intel i960
Intel's i960 was a RISC-based microprocessor design that became popular during the early 1990s as an embedded microcontroller, becoming a best-selling CPU in that field, along with the competing AMD 29000...
microprocessor as the I/O offload engine, bringing channel I/O
Channel I/O
In computer science, channel I/O is a generic term that refers to a high-performance input/output architecture that is implemented in various forms on a number of computer architectures, especially on mainframe computers...
to the PC.
I2O's principal architectural components included the I/O processor (IOP) and a split device driver model, with an OSM (OS Module) running in the host operating system and a HDM (Hardware Device Module) running on the I/O processor. This formally separated OS-specific driver functionality from the underlying device, and the two software components used message passing for communications. This split is suggestive of another initiative in which Intel participated at the time, the Uniform Driver Interface
Uniform Driver Interface
The Uniform Driver Interface is a defunct project developed by several companies to define a portable interface for device drivers....
(UDI), which sought to establish a common device driver interface spanning multiple software platforms.
I2O was plagued by several problems: the i960 was largely a failure and I2O made systems more expensive in a low cost marketplace. Additionally, the I2O SIG was seen as open-source hostile and small-player insensitive because it charged high fees for participation and was dominated by a few corporate players, notably Microsoft. While it remains unclear which of these factors caused the ultimate failure of I2O, only a few server class machines were ever built with onboard I2O. The I2O-SIG disbanded in October 2000, with a small amount of architectural information being made available via FTP at about the same time.
A number of x86-compatible operating systems provided support (or still do) for I2O, including Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Solaris
Solaris Operating System
Solaris is a Unix operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems. It superseded their earlier SunOS in 1993. Oracle Solaris, as it is now known, has been owned by Oracle Corporation since Oracle's acquisition of Sun in January 2010....
, OpenBSD
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995...
, and NetWare.
Examples of systems which utilized I2O
- Compaq Proliant
- HP NetServer LH3000
- PERCPERCPERC may stand for:* Policy and Economic Research Council, a Durham, North Carolina-based economic policy think tank* Pan-European Regional Council the European trade union arm of the International Trade Union Confederation...
4 DC SCSI/i20 on Dell PowerEdgePowerEdgeDell gives the name PowerEdge to its server product line.Most PowerEdge servers use the x86 architecture. The early exceptions to this, the PowerEdge 3250, PowerEdge 7150, and PowerEdge 7250, used Intel's Itanium processor, but Dell abandoned Itanium in 2005after failing to find adoption in the... - NECNEC, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
Express5800
External links
- sco.com - I20 (retrieved: 27 May 2008)
- intel.com - UDI and I2O: Complementary Approaches to Portable, High-performance I/O (retrieved: 27 May 2008)
- intelligent-io.com from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- wired.com - Consortium segregates the bus (retrieved: 27 May 2008)