Benefits of UDI

The UDI specification is intended to provide the following benefits and features to IHVs and operating system vendors:

• Enables third-party I/O card vendors to maintain a single copy of driver source code that will work on any platform and operating system

• Decouples the operating system from I/O hardware- and bus-dependent code

• Provides maximal I/O connectivity for platforms

• Provides a larger market for I/O card vendors

• Reduces time-to-market

• Provides fault isolation to limit spread of a problem and facilitates rapid debug in the multi-vendor system

• Reduces development and support costs

• Provides end-users more timely and cost-effective I/O

• Improves I/O quality and reliability

• Provides these features:

  • Independence from operating system, platform, and interconnect

  • Enables optimal performance and resource use through mechanisms like copy-avoidance and memory pooling

  • Supports both existing and next-generation operating systems

  • Coexists with current, non-UDI drivers

  • Resource use and system policy dictated by the operating system

  • Provides facilities for:

    • Enhanced system availability

    • System management

    • Error recovery

    • Diagnostics

  • Designed to integrate with IEEE 1275 Open Boot Protocol