UEFI is a software technology that replaces BIOS, preparing a computer to boot into an operating system. UEFI has advantages such as faster boot times, platform independence, and increased hard drive size. Intel introduced UEFI in 2003 and later transferred authority to an industry trade group.
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a software technology that prepares a computer to boot into an operating system after it is turned on. It was marketed as a replacement for the Basic Input Output System (BIOS), a technology initially developed for the original IBM® PC. The program was designed to overcome some of the weaknesses of the BIOS, such as speed and hardware limitations. Intel® introduced the technology in 2003 and later transferred authority to an industry trade group that is slowly gaining support for the standard in consumer PCs.
Most computer users have probably noticed that, no matter how much faster the microchips inside their systems, virtually all PCs have a lag between when the power button is pressed and when the operating system it’s ready. During this time, specialized software communicates with an electronic code called firmware in hardware devices. The software searches for new hardware components, inspects and prepares existing components to boot into an operating system, and selects a drive or network location to boot from. Historically, this role has been filled by BIOS software, but the new UEFI standard was intended to supplant it.
The BIOS is one of the oldest vestiges of the original IBM® PC, and limitations in its basic design prevented many PCs from booting faster than they potentially could, with delays of up to 30 seconds or more before an operating system starts booting. to load. Unlike the hardware inside computers, the BIOS hasn’t changed much since its introduction in the early 1980s. The system has been optimized to support newer hardware, but still has issues and limited speed due to its heritage. For example, the BIOS was designed for 16-bit processors rather than the 32- or 64-bit chips found in most modern computers.
Compared with BIOS, UEFI has many advantages. It had to be platform independent, meaning it’s not locked into a specific computer architecture and could potentially be used on other types of hardware, such as tablets. Boot times can be reduced to seconds, and applications and drivers can even be created to run in the environment before the operating system loads. You can also create an application that mimics traditional BIOS behavior to enable backward compatibility. The maximum size of a hard drive that can be used for booting has also increased from approximately 2 terabytes (TB) with BIOS to 9.4 zettabytes (ZB).
UEFI was initially released as Extensible Firmware Interface or EFI, a technology developed by Intel® for use with the high-end Itanium® line of 64-bit processors, which were incompatible with the BIOS standard. In 2005, Intel® relinquished control of EFI to the Unified EFI Forum, a multi-company industry group. The forum rebranded the standard and promoted industry adoption in desktop computers and other devices.
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