Phoenix rewrites the BIOS rules

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 19 Feb 2003 at 12:42

Phoenix, the builder of BIOS software at the core of computers, is looking to shoulder more of the complexity of PCs - instant-on access to applications and the possibility of auto recovery - before Windows kicks in. The good news for PC users is that it should help improve the reliability and security of machines.

The company has announced its Core Managed Environment (cME), which is a new way to provide access to applications and services. It is a protected space that operates at a level independent of the operating system. The idea is to improve a user's general experience of a PC, making it 'less complex, a little bit more easy and secure', in the words of Kees Mulder, a VP of Phoenix, as he demonstrated the system to us. He asserts Phoenix is making the BIOS 'a little bit more important and Windows a little less important'.

Phoenix - you may not be aware - provides the BIOS software at the core of 80 per cent of desktops and notebooks. This means any advances are very likely appear on a machine near you soon.

As well as accessing diagnostics, there can be support for self-healing capabilities, Internet access, and remote desktop builds. This will be done within a more friendly GUI, too - the black screen interface of old has been replaced (see picture). 'We are adding more value to the core of the system - the BIOS - not at the Windows level,' explained Mulder.

Applications that are re-factored for the special protected environment are dubbed 'FirstWare' by Phoenix.

The company is anticipating a success on two fronts. It offers OEMs a chance to add differentiation to their particular beige boxes and it also offers ISVs a chance to extend the range of their existing applications. For example, Macafee Virus Scan was seen as a FirstWare application, present on the Compaq tablet PC used to demo the system for us.

Note that the new features are hard disk resident (though protected from OS-based access), which means you are still vulnerable to a hardware drive failure. However, Phoenix claims that typically 80 per cent of reported system failures do not involve the hard disk. Issues of lost software or configuration mismatches are the most prevalent issues. The company sees the auto-recovery of default, factory settings as a strong sales point.

Which machines will feature the new system? Expect white box machines from Elonex shortly, with products from Compaq and then IBM to follow.

Intel and AMD have both endorsed the new-style BIOS. Microsoft has kept its own counsel on the issue.

Any cost issues involved for the consumer? Phoenix believes that OEMs will swallow the additional charge for the new software, rather than pass it on to consumers. When pressed on the extra cost of the new BIOS, the answer was 'just a few dollars'.

BIOS (basic input/output system) is the first piece of software triggered by the motherboard. It boots up the machine into a state ready to run operating systems such as Windows. It is a particular niche market, but Phoenix claims a presence in one billion 'digital devices' around the world (including the local ATM machine around the corner). It's this widespread presence that gives it the confidence to describe the new form of BIOS as a 'paradigm shift'.