Most motherboards have AHCI enabled by default in the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface ( UEFI) or BIOS. Version 1.3.1 is the most recent iteration of the AHCI specification. Companies in the group included AMD, Dell, Marvell, Maxtor, Microsoft, Red Hat, Seagate and StorageGear.ĪHCI was an important part of building momentum for SATA II technology, providing a standard controller interface that optimizes advanced SATA features that weren't available with the older Integrated Drive Electronics ( IDE) standard interface.
The specification was developed by the AHCI Contributor Group, which was comprised of hardware, software and OEM vendors, and was chaired by Intel.
The specification also provides a standard way to program SATA-AHCI adapters. In 2004, Intel released the AHCI specification to define the functional behavior and software interface of AHCI.
These peripheral component interconnect (PCI )-class devices move data between system memory and SATA storage media. Stacey Peterson, Senior Managing EditorĪdvanced Host Controller Interface, or AHCI, is a technical standard for an interface that enables software to communicate with Serial ATA ( SATA) devices.