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Just released! See the latest updates to the Instantly Available PC Power Delivery Requirements and Recommendations revision 1.0 (a.k.a Power Supply '98).
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Intel recently sponsored the ACPI Implementation Workshop on February 9th and 10th. The Workshop is a hardware and software compatibility testing event and technical seminar. Testing and education were the principal focus of the Workshop. Technical experts from Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba were available to answer questions and assist with testing. Browse and download the workshop information and presentations.
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Patrick Bohart, Technical Marketing Engineer for the Instantly Available PC, describes how Dual Mode Power Delivery, a key component to the Instantly Available PC can be implemented. Patrick addresses form factor considerations, benefits and tradeoff's.
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Updated; Version 1.1 of the Instantly Available PC Power Management Design Guide
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New PCI SIG Steering Committee approved 3.3Vaux ECR for PCI-PM, developed to enhance the base PCI 2.1 specification for device wakeup, is now available for download
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Industry Status
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Next Steps
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The Instantly Available PC is a new way of viewing power management requirements for today's fully featured home or office desktop PC. The goal of the Instantly Available PC is to have a high-performance, feature-rich PC that is power efficient when active and idle, always connected even when "off," and "instantly available" to users whenever needed. The Instantly Available PC is made up of several industry standard ingredients:
ACPI (Advance Configuration and Power Interface) provides a standard yet flexible interface between hardware and applications to communicate their power management capabilities to the operating system.
PCI-PM (PCI Power Management) allows add-in cards to participate in the overall power management scheme and introduce a new methodology to the scheme as well.
A dual mode power delivery system as described by the Instantly Available PC Power Delivery Requirements and Recommendations. This power delivery system will provide clean and intelligent power under both heavy and light loads.
An ACPI enabled OS will combine the above ingredients to create an intelligent power management platform.
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Because of the Instantly Available PC, home users will experience a PC that behaves much like a consumer electronics device. When it is not active, it appears to be off—there is no noise, no heat and very low power consumption, but it's ready in an instant. With the ability to be connected to external consumer electronic devices via USB and 1394 ports, the Instantly Available PC will be the hub of the entertainment center. For example, when you insert your DVD movie, your PC would wake itself up and send the decoded video and audio signals to your ACPI aware TV and amplifiers after it woke them up too. The Instantly Available PC will deliver a whole new level of usability and robustness, giving us new capabilities for the PC platform touching multiple aspects of everyday life.
For the office PC, the Instantly Available PC has additional benefits with the ability to resume on a LAN event. Intel's Wired for Management initiative specifies remote wake-up policies and procedures to help IT lower the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). These can be implemented with the Instantly Available PC. No longer will IT managers have to worry about a PC being turned off and unable to get a software update packet at night. Energy savings due to power management are apparent, but your cooling cost throughout the entire campus will be lowered too.
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The Instantly Available PC combines an industry set of standard power management specifications that peripheral vendors and PC OEMs can develop products around. This ensures that all products will correctly work with each other and will be able to fully take advantage of the system power management scheme. By adhering to industry-established standards for power management, PC OEMs and peripheral vendors will not have to bear any additional R&D cost associated with developing an Instantly Available system or peripherals. By broadening the PC platform's capabilities we open the door up for different products that we can connect to the PC and enhance the users' experience.
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Intel, Toshiba*, Microsoft* and many other PC manufacturers are working on bringing ACPI platforms and peripherals to the PC community in 1998. Microsoft has announced that its next versions of Windows* 95 and Windows NT* will be fully ACPI compatible. PC and peripheral manufacturers should provide full ACPI implementations by the third quarter of 1998. PCI-PM is now available from the PCI industry special interest group and with the addition of the 3.3Vaux ECR to the PCI-PM specification, vendors now have a standard way of supporting PCI device wakeup.
In February '98 Intel hosted a Power Management technology training track at the Intel Developer Forum. Attendees received one-on-one access to Intel architects, a complete collateral package of specifications, tools, and design guides necessary to implement an Instantly Available PC. Intel Developer Forum is providing the best training on the Instantly Available PC, as well as implementing the hottest technologies driving the PC platform today. Visit the IDF web site today.
Intel also recently announced the Mobile Power Initiative targeted at achieving power efficiency for Mobile PCs in the 1999 time frame. Not only has Intel recently announced the Pentium* processor with MMX™ technology at 266MHz to increase performance and decrease power, it has introduced the Mobile Power Initiative to focus on System Hardware, System Software, and Application Software. The new Mobile Power Guidelines (Version 1.0) are now available for download.
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Peripheral Developers and OEMs should become familiar with the key ingredients for the Instantly Available PC. Download and understand the specifications for each. Available now for download is the specification for ACPI, and the PCI-PM specification. All the other necessary specifications for implementing an Instantly Available PC can be downloaded at Intel's PM spec site. Modem and network communications vendors should pay special attention to the PCI-PM 3.3 Vaux ECR, as a solution to enabling communications on a power managed platform.
For Mobile PCs, you should become familiar with the Mobile Power Initiative and Mobile Power Guidelines to start designing for ultimate power efficiency in your next designs.
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Intel power management architect Gary Solomon describes how the new 3.3Vaux ECR provides the industry's first standard approach to supporting power-managed PCI device wakeup for easy implementation in the Instantly Available PC.
The Instantly Available PC Power Management Design Guide for desktop platforms.
Get the latest Instantly Available PC Power Delivery Requirements and Recommendations (a.k.a Power Supply '98).
Intel power management architect Gary Solomon describes the ins and outs of the Instantly Available PC in a Top Story from Issue #2 of Platform Solutions
For a closer look at ACPI
The Mobile Power Initiative and Mobile Power Guidelines designed to increase power efficiency in Mobile PCs.
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* Legal Information © 1998 Intel Corporation
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