NEC POWERMATE V486 - SERVICE, Manual

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1-42 Using Your Computer
DMI Components
The NEC DMI consists of two major functional
components:
■
the Component Interface (CI) module
■
the NEC DMI Browser.
The CI module provides the instrumentation and interface
between the BIOS and the DMI Service Layer (SL). The
DMI Browser displays and manages existing attributes in
the Management Information Format (MIF) database. The
Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) provides the
DOS Service Layer and MIF database.
Manageable Products
Manageable products are hardware, software, or peripher-
als that occupy or are attached to a desktop computer or
network server. These can be hard disks, word processors,
CD-ROMs, printers, operating systems, graphics boards,
modems, etc. Manageable products or components can
come with the system or be added later. Each component
supplies information to the MIF database by means of a
MIF file that contains the product’s pertinent management
information.
CI Module
The CI module is a Windows Direct Interface application
provided by NEC Technologies, Inc. The module uses the
CI to communicate with the SL and provides management
for a set of components defined in the PC system group
standard MIF. The NEC implementation of this MIF
provides management for a variety of attributes. Windows
starts the CI module which must be running in the back-
ground. The module is added to the Windows Start-Up
program group during DMI setup.