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Leading hardware and software vendors have formed an industry group to develop the DIG64 guidelines. These guidelines establish basic system building blocks, interfaces, and programming conventions for upcoming Intel Itanium-based server architecture and their system-level software in order to define hardware and software compatibility and interoperability.
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 | An industry-driven set of technical guidelines that define hardware, firmware and operating system's compatibility for Intel Itanium-based servers. | |
| Providing IT with systems built on common, stabilized interfaces that improve reliability and interoperabililty, lower qualification and support costs. | |
| Developed and backed by the key Intel Itanium-based servers OEMs, OSVs, and BIOS vendors who are contributing to its development and are building compliant products. | |
| Allowing the industry to accelerate the pace of Intel Itanium-based servers technology adoption. | |
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| By defining common building blocks and interfaces and proactively addressing legacy issues, the DIG64 provides an array of benefits for both developers and IT organizations. |
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| Increases the efficiency of the design process, freeing developers to focus design resources of features that add unique value and differentiate their products in the marketplace. | |
| Gives firmware and OS vendors a known set of interfaces to build to, enabling them to confidentially develop their products concurrently with the hardware and shrink time to markets. | |
| Provides a technology migration roadmap that extends the planning horizon for developers and allows them to create designs with increased longevity. | |
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| Standard interfaces and interoperable layers enhance the reliability and robustness of the resulting servers as well as lowering qualification costs. | |
| Since developers find it easier to build components that work together, customers can enjoy a greater choice of robust, innovative server solutions. | |
| Because the DIG64 addresses the migration of support-intensive, obsolete technologies to newer, more robust choices, IT departments can control or reduce the cost of server support. | |
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| The DIG64 specification defines basic system building blocks, interfaces and programming conventions between Intel Itanium-based server architecture and system-level software such as the operating system and device drivers. The specification covers: |
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| Core system components such as the processor, chipset, memory, I/O bus, and server management hardware. | |
| Interfaces to peripheral devices for networking, communications and storage | |
| Low-level firmware interfaces to the operating system for system configuration, boot and runtime services. | |
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| The guide does not create new standards and interfaces, but selects components and interfaces from already existing technologies. To ensure interoperability, the DIG64 also specifies implementation requirements for each specification or standard. The DIG64 spells out a roadmap for eliminating obsolete technologies. Release 1.0, which is currently available, pertains to servers based on the IntelŪ ItaniumŪ processor. Subsequent versions will address future processors as they are developed. A three-level hierarchy of required, recommended and optional features enables vendors to choose how quickly they want to remove older technologies. The DIG64 is operating-system independent, promoting cross-platform interoperability among servers running Windows 2000*, Linux and other UNIX* operating systems. |
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The second in the series of technical white papers, Intel Itanium-based Servers Network Communications Solutions is available to download!
You can also download the Developer's Interface Guide for Intel Itanium-based server architecture (DIG64) R2.1 at http://www.dig64.org. |
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Hardware Design 
