Visual programming is not new, but it doesn't often get a great deal of attention in the wider world of computer programming and software development. Let's shine some light on this lesser-known aspect of software creation by exploring the basic concepts behind it, as well as its benefits and shortcomings.

AMI is pleased to announce BIOS support for the second generation of the AMD EPYC server processor, as its Aptio V UEFI firmware was selected as the shipping reference BIOS for the recently released AMD EPYC 7002 Series.

Today we are back with another "Acronym Soup" blog post, asking this question: what is UBM?

Because Aptio UEFI Firmware - and its legacy BIOS predecessor, AMIBIOS - are installed on all types of systems across the globe, sometimes a system reboot will provide unique photo opportunities!

This year's COMPUTEX Taipei was held from May 28 to June 1 at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall, where AMI hosted a booth featuring the latest developments in AMI products and services.

Earlier this week at COMPUTEX Taiwan, AMI introduced its new MegaRAC® FPX2.0™ NVMe over Ethernet Fabric Management Firmware.

In this final part of our A Beginner’s Guide to PC Building,” we will share a few parting tips and tricks for assembling the PC.

It's almost that time again: the 2019 edition of COMPUTEX Taipei is now just a few days away - and American Megatrends is putting the final touches on our preparations!

This last installment of our PC building guide will wrap up with the last few pieces to choose; here we will give our tips on selecting the power supply unit (PSU) and thermal solution for the system.

Today, the memory lane took me to thirty years in the past; the day I arrived in the United States from India. Wow! It has been thirty years! It was a hot, sunny, summer day in June 1989 in Atlanta. AMI was then in its steep growth spree. A small technology bud in Norcross, a suburb of Atlanta, was looking its way to bloom, to become a world-renowned company and very instrumental in the whole computer industry and its ecosystem.

We posted a brief new version of our Corporate Overview video to YouTube to spotlight the products, services and value that AMI provides to its customers. Check it out here!

In this part of our Beginner’s Guide to building a PC we will be wrapping up the build with the last few pieces we need to choose: Random-Access Memory (RAM) and storage.

In today’s ‘Acronym Soup’ blog post, we ask another BIOS-related question: “What is ESP?”

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we are back on the BIOS side of things with this question: what is BDS?

Quantum computing has remained a hot topic in the computer industry for several years. However, it has also more recently begun to attract attention for its potential "dark side", bringing previously unanticipated concerns into the limelight.

In today’s “Acronym Soup” blog post, we ask another BIOS-related question: what is OpROM?

AMI announced today that it will make a presentation on the use of capsules for Firmware Configuration Update (FCU) at the upcoming Spring 2019 UEFI Plugfest, which takes place from April 8 to April 12, 2019 in Bellevue, Washington.

Embedded World 2019 is once more in the books, and we thought it would be a good time to provide a brief recap of the event from our perspective and a look at the booth we hosted during the exhibition. Embedded World is an international embedded technology trade show that takes place in Nuremberg, Germany every year.

Today, AMI announced support the Marvell ThunderX2 family of Arm64 System-on-Chip (SOC) devices with its Aptio V for Arm64 UEFI BIOS Firmware.

Welcome back to Part 4 of our beginner’s guide to building a PC, where we will share tips for selecting a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we ask a question that many of our readers with a system development or engineering background may be familiar with: what is EVB?

Today, AMI announced its compliance with the recently released new version of Intel® Rack Scale Design (RSD), version 2.3.

Today, AMI announced its full support for the Redfish 1.5 specification from DMTF in its Aptio V UEFI BIOS Firmware and MegaRAC SP-X BMC Remote Management Firmware.

In today’s “Acronym Soup” blog post, we will be taking a peek into one of the phases a system goes through during power on and ask the question: What is DXE?

This year's edition of Embedded World is just a few weeks away, and we are eagerly getting ready! Once again, American Megatrends is most excited to make an appearance at Embedded World, to brief attendees on the latest innovations and developments in AMI products and solutions.

In today’s “Acronym Soup” blog post, we are back over on the manageability side of things and ask the question: what is PXE?

Today, AMI has introduced our MegaRAC® FP-X™ Fabric Management Firmware Solution, a powerful firmware/software stack that combines complete fabric management functionality with that of a baseboard management controller (BMC). The combination of these two capabilities enables MegaRAC FP-X to provide robust management capabilities and a deep layer of insight to key elements of the data center fabric, including compute, network, storage and infrastructure components.

American Megatrends would like to wish our readers a very Happy New Year!

American Megatrends would like to wish our valued customers, partners and readers of our Tech Blog a very Happy Holidays!

Should your company invest in a 3D printer? Have you been hearing about 3D printing, doing research on it and wondering if it is worth investing in for your business? If so, today's Tech Blog will share our recent experience with 3D printing to help give you some insight into this amazing technology.

Today we continue our look at open standards for the data center with SNIA Swordfish, which simplifies the way storage can be allocated, monitored, and managed.

American Megatrends would like to wish our readers a very happy and relaxing Thanksgiving (US) holiday!

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we ask a somewhat broader question with roots in many aspects of the computing industry: what is a FRU?

Now that you have an idea of what the purpose of your new computer is we can now move on to selecting one of the most important parts to go into a computer, the Central Processing Unit (CPU).

Another great turnout from Team AMI at the "world's largest office party"!

American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) Firmware Utility (AFU) is a versatile firmware update utility. It initiates firmware update requests that are processed by system firmware, therefore, robustness of the firmware update process, to a large degree, is defined by the properties of the underlying firmware. Coupled with a modern system firmware (a.k.a. BIOS), AFU delivers robust firmware update experience. Modern system firmware is a firmware that has up-to-date security improvements and is in compliance with the relevant industry specifications like UEFI and ACPI. While AFU still supports updating legacy BIOSes, AFU does not use the legacy update method for updating modern BIOSes but instead enforces firmware update security employing best practices defined by the UEFI specifications.

As summer turns to autumn, AMI employees are finding great ways to be active and take control of their health and fitness!

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we remain over on the manageability side of things and ask the question: what is SOL?

Now that you have an idea of what the purpose of your new computer is we can now move on to selecting one of the most important parts to go into a computer, the Central Processing Unit (CPU).

Are you thinking of building a new computer and have no idea where to begin? Not to worry, you are in the right place!

How familiar are you with the concept of "composability" for the data center? In today's Tech Blog, we will review the basic concepts behind this hot topic in the world of large-scale enterprise data centers and private cloud computing.

CPUs and GPUs are quite similar. They both process thousands of operations per second and have a noticeable impact on the computers performance. So what is the difference between them?

AMI is pleased to announce a new module for Aptio V UEFI Firmware that is compatible with NIST SP 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M "Data Clearing and Sanitization", which outline fundamental standards and procedures for information disposal and media sanitization.

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we will once again take a step over on the manageability side of things and ask the question: what is IPMI?

Headed to Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara next week? If so, be sure to stop by the Intel booth for an NVME-oF interoperability demonstration featuring our MegaRAC Composer Pod Management Software!

We've all heard the saying: there's no such thing as a free lunch. This could now also (sadly) be the case with free USB swag that has long been ubiquitous at trade shows and other industry events. Read on to learn more...

With 4th of July right around the corner, some of our cardio-loving employees are getting ready to run the AJC Peachtree Road Race!

In Part II of our blog series on MegaRAC SP-X BMC Firmware, we will go a little more deeply into some of the capabilities of different SP-X modules and specification support, to give an even better idea of the power and flexibility of this solution.

Let's take a closer look at MegaRAC SP-X Service Processor, a sophisticated BMC / server management firmware solution that is a first choice for many of the leading OEMs and ODMs for its remote, power and sensor management, security and customization capabilities.

AMI is proud to announce a recent collaboration with KingTiger Technology Inc. in the development and integration of AMI's Aptio V UEFI firmware and KingTiger's iMS technology to provide a total solution for DRAM error identification and diagnosis.

COMPUTEX 2018 has ended - and once again it was once again a great success for AMI. Read on to see some photos from this year's event!

It's that time of year once again – COMPUTEX Taipei 2018 is almost upon us and AMI will be there!

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we talk about a firmware development tool that is unique to AMI: What is VeB?

Momentum continues to build for Redfish, as DMTF has announced several recent strategic alliances with other special interest groups (SIGs) and industry associations. Clearly, key players across the industry see the potential of Redfish and want to get on board with this leading standard for server and data center hardware management.

American Megatrends, Inc. will be sponsoring the upcoming Fall 2018 UEFI Plugfest with several other members of the UEFI Forum. The event is scheduled to take place from October 15-19, 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Part 2 of our examination of platformization takes a brief look at some of the benefits and pitfalls of business platformization for platform business operators, their consumers and the service providers who make use of these platforms.

AMI is pleased to announce support for TPM on Arm®-based systems running AMI's Aptio® V UEFI firmware.

Do you know the meaning of "platform business", or a platform business model? In truth many of us don’t really understand the concept, although we use them nearly every day.

We're always reading about the latest, greatest and most interesting things that are happening in the technology industry. In a time where technology is quickly innovating, we're always on our toes and there is always something new to read about every day. For today's blog post, we've rounded up some of the most interesting, buzz worthy topics in the tech industry right now and written short descriptions about what is going on!

AMI is pleased to announce support for the new ISO/IEC 30115:2018 standard in its MegaRAC® Composer™ Pod Management Software.

AMI has released an additional statement clarifying the impact of the "Meltdown" and "Spectre" security vulnerabilities on its MegaRAC SP-X Service Processor Firmware as implemented on Arm-based BMC SoCs from ASPEED Technology Inc.

5G connectivity promises to be revolutionary, and transform nearly every aspect of our lives - changing the way that we live, communicate, work, travel, study, maintain our health and entertain ourselves. But what are some of the distinguishing features of 5G? And who are the key players in bringing 5G to life?

Although Solid State Drives (SSD) seem to grab all of the attention these days, traditional spinning hard disk drives (HDD) are not ready to fade into the sunset just yet. By using an element that is the second-most abundant in the universe, the industry has been able to "breathe new life into HDDs", all thanks to Helium (He).

Data breaches seem to be so common today, we need to be alert about security. One prime example of when we need to be alert is about our credit reports and fraud protection.

Many of us are already familiar with the term Blockchain. However, a new ledger technology is making waves in the news, painted as the next big thing in ledger technology that will overtake Blockchain. So who's the new player in the ledger technology field? Today, we're introducing you to Hashgraph and giving you a brief and simplified explanation as to what it is.

These days, we hear terms like "global citizen", "digital nomad" and "location independent" used more frequently to describe a certain type of individual not tied to a single location but living with the freedom to live and work in the location(s) of his or her choosing, moving from place to place when the mood or circumstances strikes.

Sometimes when people start throwing around the words software and firmware, things can get a little muddled and confusing. Software and firmware are two separate, but related things and some people aren't sure how to differentiate the two. Today, we're here to explain what software and firmware are while providing you some information about the purpose of both.

American Megatrends is pleased to announce its intention to provide OpenBMC solutions for the Intel®-based "Project Olympus" hyperscale server platform design contributed by Microsoft Corporation to the Open Compute Project (OCP).

American Megatrends is pleased to announce that its class-leading MegaRAC® Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) Firmware now features support for enhanced manageability of enterprise-class Nytro® 5910 NVMe drives from Seagate Technology.

American Megatrends statement in response to the CTS-Labs Advisory of 13 Security Flaws in AMD Ryzen and EPYC processors, mentioning AMI's BIOS/UEFI firmware.

As a BIOS manufacturer, we often hear and get questions concerning BIOS. For today's post, we decided to round up a few of the most commonly asked questions about BIOS and answer them!

Last week, our own Stefano Righi, Vice President of Utilities R&D at AMI and a member of the UEFI Board of Directors and UEFI Security Response Team, was featured as a guest on "Paul's Security Weekly" vlog, a popular computer security video show hosted on YouTube each week.

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we talk about two emerging storage solution technologies and ask: What is SDN and SDS?

Embedded World 2018 is finally in the books, and we thought it would be a good time to provide a little recap of the event from our perspective and a peek at the booth we hosted during the exhibition.

How good are machines at reading, compared to humans? What technology is driving breakthroughs in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and reading comprehension, and what are the implications?

Before Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) there was legacy BIOS. You may hear us throwing around the term "legacy BIOS" all the time. Although sometimes we use BIOS and UEFI interchangeably (or sometimes at the same time), the actual term we should be using now is UEFI firmware. UEFI is the successor to legacy BIOS and there's a reason why it is preferred firmware initialization infrastructure.

My car performed an over the air (OTA) update of the infotainment system last week. It was really cool! It was performed when I got home and parked the car. I didn't have to waste time, sitting in traffic, going to the car dealer. There was nothing to plug in or wirelessly connect to. It just updated itself.

Cloud computing has been all the rage in the technology world, but a new way of computing has started to emerge. Could we be looking at at a new technological advancement? Some people certainly believe so. If you haven't heard about edge computing, we're here to give you a simple break down of what it is and why tech companies are working towards providing support for edge computing.

In today's "Acronym Soup" blog post, we once again step over on the manageability side of things and ask the question: What is PSME?

So when you press that power button, what exactly happens? In simple terms, the system is going to go through the boot process, a process that is overseen by the one and only BIOS. It doesn't seem like the system is going through an entire process because it all happens so fast, but within those few seconds, a lot happens. For those curious, we've outlined the basics of what happens in those few seconds between the moment you press the power button and when the operating system start menu welcomes you.

Embedded World 2018 is just around the corner and we're getting hyped! AMI has been attending Embedded World for more than 10 years and this year, we're excited to make another appearance to talk to attendees about the latest innovations we've been working on!

In the wake of recent news of the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities, American Megatrends has released a statement outlining the company's recent activities, stance and response plan.

2018 is off to a vulnerable start in the technology world. Earlier this week, news circulated that two major security vulnerabilities, named Meltdown and Spectre, were uncovered by security researchers in systems that use processing chips from major vendors.

American Megatrends would like to wish our dear readers a very Happy New Year!

Click "Read More" to learn the details of this announcement from Microsemi and AMI - and the implications for the next generation of high performance servers!

Security is a topic we cannot stress enough, especially when it comes to firmware security. With AMI's extensive BIOS and BMC firmware offerings, learn more about how AMI has committed to helping our customers with security!

In today’s serving of hot, fresh Acronym Soup, we step over to the manageability side of things and ask the question: What is NVMeoF?

In a recent announcement, Intel said "bye" to BIOS by 2020... but what does it mean for AMI and for end users? As a key partner with Intel in both legacy BIOS and UEFI for many years, we offer up our thoughts, observations and a brief discussion of the potential impact - both for AMI and for end users of computer systems that still retain legacy BIOS support.

Some of you may heard of Sony's robotic dog AIBO. When it was released in 1999, the world was introduced to robotic pets. Robotic pets is still a relatively new topic talked about in the technology stratosphere; however, with the advancements made in robot pets by incorporating things such as AI, IoT and cloud computing, will robotic pets be making their way into homes soon?

American Megatrends would like to wish our readers a very happy and relaxing Thanksgiving (US) holiday!

Security is a big thing, especially when there are certain files and data we want to protect from being stolen and/or accessed by unauthorized sources. That's why the BitLocker feature is important in terms of security because BitLocker allows users to protect their information. Learn what BitLocker is and why BitLocker is a beneficial feature to have.

Every year during the week before Thanksgiving, AMI's employees are hustling and bustling throughout the place. Employees are preparing presentations, setting up demos and of course, getting their stomachs ready for a feast! So what's exactly happening at AMI? Why, Innovation Week of course!

Although the title of this post might sound like something from a "Harry Potter" novel, all of us at AMI take great pride in the legacy of innovation our company has built since it was established in 1985. There's no better time to display our innovation than our annual Innovation Week, an internal event taking place this week at our US headquarters. Read on to see and find out more!

You have probably experienced this at least once in your lifetime. You're casually using your computer, playing games, watching too much Netflix, surfing the internet to read the latest Buzzfeed articles and/or spending copious amounts of money online shopping. All of sudden the screen goes blue and the screen is filled with a series of messages talking about your system crash and maybe, just maybe, a weird sound comes screeching from your computer.

On Wednesday, AMI announced its support for Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, Inc. as the company launches its new 48-core Qualcomm Centriq 2400 server processor based on 64-bit Armv8-A architecture. AMI has developed custom Aptio V UEFI BIOS Firmware and MegaRAC SP-X Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) firmware that leverages the unique "built for the cloud" architecture and capabilities of this new Arm-based server processor.

Bluetooth is a technology that has been around for awhile now. It uses high-speed, short-range radio frequency communication so devices, such as laptops, keyboards, cell phones, headsets, speakers and smart watches, can create a network and transfer data between the devices. Bluetooth is a low-cost technology that has been widely adopted; however, there are some security threats users should be aware of when it comes to using Bluetooth technology.

Recently, AMI added support for the Block SID Physical Presence Interface (PPI) specification for NVMe drives running Aptio® V UEFI firmware. The Block SID PPI specification is defined in the Trusted Computing Group's (TCG) Storage Opal Integration Guidelines, which specifically outlines the SID authority and how it manages storage devices.

When Tier One OEMs evaluate firmware partners like AMI to aid in development of their server platforms, they bring a number of very specific needs to the table. Our MegaRAC team has a long track record of successful engagement with these customers, thanks some very useful OEM-specific product features in our remote management and BMC firmware products. Read this quick overview to learn more about the keys to securing Tier One OEM projects.

Today we're diving into one of BIOS utilities: MMTool. So what does MMTool stand for? MMTool stands for Module Management Tool. As one of AMI's BIOS/UEFI utilities, MMTool allows users to manage firmware file modules within the Aptio ROM image.

The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) has been addressing the trust issue – and related security benefits – for PCs, servers, networking gear and embedded systems for more than a decade, driven by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) specification.

Because AMIBIOS and Aptio UEFI Firmware from American Megatrends are installed on all types of systems the world over, from servers to desktops, notebooks and tablets, all the way down to embedded systems such as those driving digital signage systems, often times a system reboot will provide interesting photo opportunities. Let's take a look at some!

Recently we covered the basics of one of our acronyms from our Acronym Soup: EC. If you remember the blog post, you will know that EC stands for embedded controllers, which are microcontrollers located on the motherboard. Embedded controllers serve many purposes when it comes to computer systems and take on tasks that are not handled by the Central Processing Unit (CPU). Embedded Controllers have been around for a long time and these small, but powerful microchips control various aspects of computer systems!

For today's serving of Acronym Soup, we look on the BIOS/UEFI Utilities side of things for the recipe of the day and ask the question: What is BCP?

In today’s post, we continue our series on Moore's Law by looking at recent reports questioning whether it is finally at its end, and if so, what predictions we can make for the chip industry - and the tech industry at large - as a result.

Customization, innovation and differentation are three things that developers value when it comes to developing their platforms. If developers incorporate Intel®'s Innovation Engine on their platforms, developers have the ability to customize, innovate and differentiate their product offerings by implementing new features and addressing their own platform requirements. Good news for Aptio V customers? AMI's added support for Intel IE on Intel Atom® C3000 Processors using Aptio® V UEFI Firmware gives Aptio V customers more control over the architecture of their firmware!

What is a Backplane Controller? Before we can explain what a backplane controller (BPC) is, we need to define what a backplane is. There are different types of backplanes. We will be discussing drive backplanes.

How familiar are you with "Moore's Law" - a key concept about the complexity and density of integrated circuits that has shaped the landscape of computing for the last fifty years? Today's post will provide a brief background, as we begin a series of posts on the history of Moore’s Law and its implications for the future of computing.

Recently, AMI added full support for the Redfish™ 1.0 specification from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). The Redfish specification is an open industry standard specification and schema that allows simple and secure management of modern scalable platform hardware.

ESA is an acronym for Extensible Setup Architecture. ESA is an Aptio®V user interface module that allows you to customize the look and feel of the Aptio boot UI. ESA is a replacement for the traditional BIOS text-based setup environment (TSE).

Although it sounds like something lifted straight from the pages of hard science fiction or the world of fictional superspies, smart dust is fast becoming reality and could be the catalyst for the next wave of the Industrial Revolution. Read on to find out more about this fascinating technology and its potential to transform our lives.

Equifax's recent security breach has caused a lot of concern among civilians in the US. Recent findings uncovered that the security breach was due to weak security processes and untimely security patch updates. Patches and security updates are essential in protecting your data and keeping your systems secure!

American Megatrends is committed to providing the highest level of security in our UEFI BIOS and BMC products, with our Security Team standing by for rapid response.

One of the product lines that has been very well received over the years is our line of MG Backplane Controllers. The latest addition to the family, the MG9098 Backplane Controller, continues the tradition and stands out by featuring support for NVMe in addition to traditional SAS and SATA backplanes, with no custom firmware or programming required – the first chip in the AMI family to do so.

For today's serving of Acronym Soup, we look on the embedded controller firmware side of things for the recipe of the day and ask the question: What is EC?

For today's serving of Acronym Soup, we look on the BIOS side of things for the recipe of the day and ask the question: What is AMI EMA?

The concept of AI has been lurking in the technology industry for awhile now, to the point where two prominent tech titans, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have had disagreements over AI and what AI could mean for us in the future. So which view is right? Or do we need to think of it in a different way?

Quick reference overview of the key differences between RTOS and GPOS.

American Megatrends extends its support and deepest sympathy to all those whose lives, families, homes and communities have been disrupted by the recent devastation of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Our sporty AMI employees got their engines revving for the annual Kaiser Permanente 5k Walk/Run!

Let's take a peek deep into the the AMI Archives and focus on one of AMI’s best-known and most beloved products, one that helped the company to an enormous degree in building our name and establishing our legacy as a technology innovator: AMIBIOS 8. This product stands out as the last in the line of legacy BIOS firmware solutions from AMI, which ushered in the transition period to firmware based on the EFI specification and beyond.

Everyone has their acronyms. In my house, if I ask, "PT?" I would be asking if we are having Pizza Tonight. If you ask that at boot camp, it would be Physical Training. In the BIOS/BMC firmware development community, there are a bunch. Here's a list of just a few.

We like to keep up with the latest tech shows to learn about the latest developments various tech companies are working on. Today we will be covering the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA) 2017 trade show, currently taking place in Berlin, Germany. The IFA trade show is known to be the largest tech trade show in Europe, attracting more than 200,000 visitors and 1,800+ exhibitors per year. Big name companies such as Samsung, ASUS, Panasonic and Acer are all attendees at this year's IFA, introducing new products that consumers can look forward to in the near future. In honor of the IFA 2017 trade show, we decided to round up some of the coolest, innovative and interesting products we've read about so far!

In today's post, we offer a summary of recent reports on the upcoming Tsubame 3 supercomputer from Professor Satoshi Matsuoka of the Tokyo Institute of Technology as it pushes into the next great frontier in high performance computing (HPC), called AI-HPC Hybrid Workflows, together with some speculation on what some of the features of this powerful system might be.

On Monday, August 21, 2017, people around the nation and world stepped outside and looked up to the sky. There was no bird, plane or Superman in the sky, but rather, an awe-inspiring natural wonder. Trending across the internet was #SolarEclipse and #Eclipse2017, with everyone marveling at the moment where the sun was completely blocked by the moon. The Solar Eclipse of 2017 was probably one of the most anticipated, talked about, hot topic of 2017. People were throwing their solar shades on to immerse themselves in the magic of the solar eclipse. This past Monday, we had some employees drive up to northern Georgia to see the eclipse on the path of totality while the others who stayed at the office had a little viewing party of their own!

In our final post on the topic of open standards in server design and management, we will look at the Open Compute Project originally devised and promoted by social media giant Facebook back in 2009.

In the technology sector, we always see innovative things being developed. Sometimes you ask yourself, "I wonder if this kind of technology exists yet?" and when you pull up a Google search, you see that some sort of development for that particular technology is in fact, in progress. The hype for some of these technologies is very real and the rate of new technologies coming out sometimes seems to be faster than Superman himself. We've rounded up some of the trendiest tech topics that are floating around in the technology industry right now, all of which are highly-anticipated technologies that will change the way we do things in the future.

Pizza as a Service version 2.0 as explained by Paul Kerrison. An unofficial update to Albert Barron's Pizza as a Service.

We continue our exploration of open standards in server design and management with a closer look at the Intel® Rack Scale Design standard, along with some of the MegaRAC remote management products that incorporate this powerful and flexible hardware management API.

The Walk AMI program was created by AMI's Wellness Committee, a committee comprised of individuals who are responsible for implementing healther lifestyle options around the workplace. One of the key objectives the committee pushes is to get employees to be active around the workplace and outside of work as well. In order to get employees to start stepping it up, the Wellness Committee initiated a little friendly competition and got a walking party started. And thus, the AMI walking teams were formed!

Throughout the years, one area that BIOS development has traditionally been slightly lacking in is the availability of robust tools for BIOS debug. Yet the landscape of BIOS debug tools changed dramatically in 2009 when AMI introduced the AMIDebug™ Rx tool, the first dedicated, low-cost, portable debug solution.

Today, AMD announced the launch of their AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processors. American Megatrends Aptio®V UEFI firmware is the reference BIOS on the AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processors and AMD EPYC™ 7000 Series data center processors and platforms.

Continuing our look at open standards in server design and management, we focus next on the Redfish™ API from DMTF, along with the MegaRAC products and other AMI solutions that currently incorporate this standard.

Previously we covered the future of smarter homes through automation and IoT. But on a larger scale, another topic comes to mind: smart cities. With increasing levels of urbanization and influx of people moving to urban areas, the concept of smart cities has become prevalent, with some cities becoming models of what these smart cities will look like in the future.

"Free, as in beer": this phrase, heard often about the open software movement, also applies to the open standards movement throughout many areas of the computing industry. In this post, we look more closely at the need and inspiration for open standards in server and data center design and management and the reasons why AMI has embraced participation in the organizations devoted to advancing them.

UEFI BIOS RoT is not about a piece of rotting code. It's about trust. RoT or Root of Trust is based on the idea that you trust something that is part of something else that is already trusted.

From the AMI Archives: We continue our look at MegaRAC remote and BMC management products with a profile of a product line that was a great success for American Megatrends for many years, helping to establish our reputation as a leader in remote management: the MegaRAC G Series Remote Access PCI Cards.

If there's one thing we should all think about more is making the world a more green friendly place. There's no denying that recycling, conserving energy, and initiating more green-friendly practices poses benefits to the environment. Since we spend a vast majority of our time in the workplace, why not work towards making our workplace more green-friendly and getting our co-workers to contribute to a better green initiative? That is why AMI started to go green and work towards developing more environmental-friendly practices around the office with its Green Initiatives Committee!

In a data center, uptime is key. Nothing kills uptime like a good power outage. Because of this, most data centers use diesel powered generators for backup power. Many data centers will have at least 12 hours of fuel onsite and dedicated fuel management software...

In today’s AMI Tech Blog post, we will take a closer look at some of the initiatives and programs that our company has adopted over the years to focus on and improve employee health and wellness, in response to near-daily news reports and medical studies informing us that our office work environments and daily habits are negatively affecting our health.

This past week, we were running all over the place prepping for and hosting our annual BIOS Engineering Summit, a week where engineers from both our headquarters and Taiwan branch come together to sync up on the latest innovations the engineers are working on. It was a very busy week for our engineers, where they spent most of their time attending presentation sessions from the beginning of the work day till the very end! So busy that it seemed as though a decent lunch was sacrificed in exchange for technical knowledge of the latest AMI innovations!

Today, we take a close-up look at the Samsung Parner Award that AMI was honored to receive from Samsung in December 2016, proudly displayed here in our headquarters office in Norcross, GA.

It is generally accepted that POST (or Power-On Self-Test) is basically what takes place right after you power-on a system or device. In the 1990s, as part of POST, the BIOS would test the memory. The more memory you had, the longer the test would take. Think a few seconds. Also, POST happens everytime you re-boot the system.

One of the brands in the AMI product family that may not get as much attention as BIOS is the MegaRAC brand, which is the home for all of the remote and baseboard management controller (BMC) management technologies that AMI has developed and marketed over the years. Today’s Tech Blog Post will take a closer look at the products and history of MegaRAC, as well as some of the key strengths and opportunities we see for this product line.

If you keep up with AMI, other IBVs and technology companies, you may have heard the term "plugfest" popping up every so often. AMI happens to plan, host, sponsor and attend various plugfests throughout the year and you may be wondering, what is a plugfest? Today we cover what a plugfest is and what kinds of things happen at these plugfest events!

For today's post we have dug deep into our extensive AMI Archives to look more closely at AMIDiag, one of the many AMI products built on the same professional-grade, lab-tested diagnostic tools utilized daily by our engineers and still in use today!

I was recently asked, "What is your biggest BIOS (UEFI) innovation?" From a techie point-of-view, I would have to say graphical setup in our client BIOS offering, Aptio V... and not just any graphical setup, but Aptio ESA. (Extensible Setup Architecture).

There is a common buzzword that you may find yourself hearing more and more these days in news, blogs, online articles and the like, causing you to wonder to yourself: what exactly is "blockchain", or blockchain technology? In today's Tech Blog post, we will try to give a (very) brief and non-technical introduction to this fascinating subject.

Think back to the last few years of the 1990s and how there was widespread confusion and uncertainty with respect to how computers and industrial systems would handle the changing of the year to a new century in 2000. American Megatrends was among the many computer and software services companies that were spurred into action and the formulation of an appropriate response to this potential threat. For today's post we have dug deep into our extensive AMI Archives for a look at another product from an interesting vantage point in recent history.

Every so often we receive emails from people who have computers that suddenly display the American Megatrends logo. They think that they caught some sort of ransomware or computer virus. They visit our website and send us an email:

Every year, more than 60,000 runners participate in the Atlanta AJC Peachtree Road Race. Set for the 4th of July this year, some AMI runners will be participating in the annual 10k!

Firmware is everywhere; in every system and nearly every technology device we use on a daily basis - clearest example would be computers/laptops. Firmware is also highly vulnerable to malware attacks, where hackers corrupt the firmware to create persistent problems for the firmware despite "fixing" the initial issue. Firmware attacks are so common that people constantly research ways to prevent these kinds of attacks from happening, with Google search results for "firmware hack" and "firmware security" increasing year by year.

The time has passed quickly, but already almost two months have gone by since the launch of our new AMI Tech Blog! To commemorate the occasion, for today's post we decided to take a look back at some of our greatest hits since its launch in early May of this year.

On June 20, 2017, AMD announced the release of the AMD EPYC™, AMD's new server processor targeted at data centers. It is stated to be 52% faster than current server processors with up to 32 cores, 128 lanes of PCI Express (PCIe) lanes and support up to 2TB of DDR 4 memory via eight channels.

For today's post we have dug deep into our extensive AMI Archives for a look at another product from several years back that some of our readers may be familiar with: PC Care for Windows 95.

Traditionally, to update and configure the BIOS on multiple servers, someone would have to manually update each server with new BIOS settings one at a time. However, with AMI's Remote BIOS solution, the process is simpler and done remotely!

Everywhere you look, people want things fast. People are not happy with access to just online news, which is pretty fast. Now they want even faster access or as it happens. So, they turn to social media. Phone applications need to open up immediately and computers need to boot to the OS in seconds.

For that last part, there is a race to zero... zero seconds (or less than a full second).

American Megatrends provides comprehensive documentation to its customers in the Customer Portal. One of AMI's customers, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, was able to easily make changes to its AMI-licensed source code by itself, using the documentation found in the Customer Portal

Earlier this week, the need for autonomous vehicles was reinforced when my brother-in-law was met head-on by an elderly driver going the wrong way on the Corona Express Way in Chino, Ca. He captured the incident on his dash cam, which he posted on social media. The video went viral on Facebook in a matter of hours.

Sometimes we get so busy at work, we're not able to have an enjoyable lunch. Today we highlight one of our employee's Sad Desk Lunch where ramen is eaten in a coffee mug!

Is it true, or just another urban legend? Could it have been the work of a rogue employee, someone who wanted to secretly flirt with immortality in a most peculiar way? Or perhaps this could be considered as evidence of alien contact? In fact, did the event in question ever really happen at all? If so, do you have any experiences of your own to add to the already tall tale?

MyGnar, Inc. is a company focused on the mobile technology sector with its product GNARBOX, the world's first device that allows users to download, organize and edit videos/RAW photos using their smartphones. MyGnar actively sought out different vendors to assist with the development of its embedded photo sharing device that transfers media from GoPro®, SLR and regular cameras to the user's preferred device (tablet, phone, cloud, desktop, etc.).

Which came first? The AMI Logo or TRIFORCE(r) symbol?

Now that COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2017 has just concluded, we felt it was a great time to share a recap of the event - by showing some pictures from our AMI booth and a sampling of key products featured within it.

For today's post we have dug deep into our extensive AMI Archives for a look at an object from several years back that some of our readers may be familiar with, or might possibly even own in their own collections: "The Programmer's Guide to the AMIBIOS", published in 1993 by Windcrest/McGraw Hill.

DAQRI, a leading enterprise augmented reality company, presented and demonstrated its DAQRI SMART HELMET™ to a worldwide audience at the global Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016. DAQRI SMART HELMET™ is a wearable human-machine interface designed to work in enterprise settings that displays real-time information based on a worker’s environment. To meet the deadline of the upcoming show, DAQRI entrusted the help of AMI to assist with the development of the system BIOS and AMI was responsible for looking over the system BIOS and customizing specifications of DAQRI SMART HELMET.

American Megatrends will be in attendance at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2017 from May 30 to June 3. Every year, COMPUTEX Taipei takes place in Taipei and attracts visitors from over 100 different countries and AMI has attended the event for more than 15 years.

While there are many reasons to enter the UEFI BIOS setup, there are also many ways to enter UEFI BIOS setup. Click "Read More" to discover the top three!

Video from the Lenovo Supplier Conference in Hangzhou, China where American Megatrends was awarded the Lenovo Diamond Supplier Award

Before the MegaRAC family grew into the extensive product line it is today, one of MegaRAC's most interesting solutions came in a small, metal, box-like form. This compact solution serves as a mighty predecessor of current and future MegaRAC products and has capabilities beyond what one could imagine a small box could do. In 2003, MegaRAC introduced its MegaRAC K1 solution.

On the American Megatrends website (AMI.com), you will frequently see the use of 'OEM' and 'ODM'. To discover the difference between an OEM and ODM from an American Megatrends perspective, click the button below.

To keep up with the latest industry standards, American Megatrends recently added support for the SMBIOS 3.1.1 specification. The System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) specification is an industry standard that defines how management information is delivered by the system firmware.

What is wrong with this picture? This is a picture of the American Megatrends Inc. series 735 Merlin motherboard. Or specifically, the clear plastic sheets of the solder pads artwork layer and other Printed Circuit Board (PCB) electrical layers. These plastic sheets or PCB films were used during the manufacturing process of the motherboard PCB to etch each layer of the PCB. To find out, follow the link!

Recently at the Lenovo Supplier Conference held by Lenovo Group in Hangzhou, China, American Megatrends was presented with the Lenovo Diamond Award.

American Megatrends (AMI) offers a combined BIOS / BMC Remote Firmware Management Solution that gives data center administrators the ability to quickly and remotely update BIOS settings for tens, hundreds or even thousands of identical servers, all at once from a single location - onsite or remotely.