T13/e08114r2-EDD4.0 Project Proposal.

August 19 2008

Project Proposal

for a New

INCITS Standard

BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Services - 4

19 August 2008

1Source of the Proposed Project

1.1Title :

BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Specification - 4.(EDD4)

1.2Date Submitted

21 February2008

1.3Proposing Group

T-13

2Process Description for the Proposed Project

2.1Project Type (Development or Revision)

D - Development

2.2Type of Document

Standard

2.3Definitions of Concepts and Special Terms

None - the terms are industry standard.

2.4Expected Relationship with Approved Reference Models, Frameworks, Architectures, etc.

None, it is expected that this standard will be used in closed systems.

2.5Recommended INCITS Development Technical Committee

T13

2.6Anticipated Frequency and Duration of Meetings

T13 presently meets up to six times per year and authorizes ad hoc meetings as warranted for the needs of the projects. It is anticipated that these meetings are adequate to address this standard among the other agenda items for these meetings.

2.7Target Date for Initial Public Review (Milestone 4)

June 2009

2.8Estimated Useful Life of Standard or Technical Report

5 years or more

3Business Case for Developing the Proposed Standard

3.1Description

This is a proposal is an evolutionary follow on to the INCITS 407-2005 BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Services – 3 specification. This project would incorporate new features (such as describing native SATA device and SATA port multiplier support within the interface and device path definitions)would address all erratum associated with EDD 3.0 (such as correcting the function number assigned to Send Packet Command to be FN 50h and not FN 4Fh) and would address other capabilities, commands, translations and behaviors that are appropriate for this environment.

3.2Existing Practice and the Need for a Standard or Technical Report

There is a need in the industry to enable the r users of INT13 (option ROM’s and operating systems) to differentiate between SATA devices functioning in IDE-emulation mode vs. devices functioning in native-SATA mode – including those SATA devices behind a SATA port multiplier. While the current EDD 3.0 specification provides a mechanism for describing SATA devices it does not however, differentiate between native SATA operation and IDE-emulation operation.

3.3Implementation Impacts of the Proposed Standard or Technical Report

3.3.1Development Costs

Members of T13 will provide the necessary resources. The T13 members will host the required meetings for development, provide for the necessary lab experiments, and provide the Technical Editor for the project.

3.3.2Impact on Existing or Potential Markets

The proposed standard for the Enhanced Disk Drive services will not impact in a negative manner the existing legacy base of BIOS (including option roms) and host operating systems. However, it will provide a growth/value vehicle for new development of software that requires SATA device differentiation.

3.3.3Costs and Methods for Conformity Assessment

The committee will consider the results of testing as may be available to the committee through the voluntary efforts of the various participants in T13. With this method all costs are borne by the organizations of the various participants and have for the most part been mainly an adjunct of their normal development costs.

3.3.4Return on Investment

ROI information is considered proprietary data by the member organizations.

3.4Legal Considerations

3.4.1Patent Assertions

Calls will be made to identify assertions of patent rights in accordance with the relevant INCITS, ANSI, and ISO/IEC policies and procedures.

3.4.2Dissemination of the Standard

Drafts of this document will be disseminated electronically. Dissemination of the final standard will be restricted, as the document becomes property of INCITS, ANSI, and/or ISO/IEC.

4Related Standards Activities

4.1Existing Standards

ID Number Title

INCITS 407-2005 BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Services – 3 (EDD-3)

INCITS 452-2008AT Attachment 8 – ATA/ATAPI Command Set (ATA8-ACS)

4.2Related Standards Activity

None.

4.3Corresponding ISO Projects

None.

4.4Recommendations for Close Liaison

None.

5Units of Measurement Used in the Standard

Not measurement sensitive.

Page 1 of 4