Editing Advanced Computing Environment (section)

==ARC==
{{Main|ARC (specification)}}
The main product of the ACE group is the [[ARC (specification)|Advanced RISC Computing]] specification, or ARC. It was initially based on [[MIPS Technologies|MIPS-based]] computer [[Computer hardware|hardware]] and [[firmware]] environment. Although ACE went defunct, and no computer was ever manufactured which fully complied with the ARC standard, the ARC system still exerts a widespread legacy in that all [[Microsoft]] [[Windows NT]]-based [[operating system]]s (such as [[Windows XP]]) used ARC conventions for naming [[Booting|boot]] devices before [[Windows Vista]]. Further, [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]] used a modified version of the ARC firmware (which it called [[ARCS (computing)|ARCS]]) in its systems. All SGI computers which run [[IRIX]] 6.1 or later (such as the [[SGI Indy|Indy]], [[SGI Octane|Octane]], ''etc.'') boot from an ARCS console (which uses the same drive naming conventions as Windows, accordingly).

In addition, most of the various RISC-based computers designed to run Windows NT used versions of the ARC boot console to boot NT. Among these computers were:

* MIPS R4000-based systems such as the [[MIPS Magnum]] workstation
* all [[DEC Alpha|Alpha]]-based machines with a [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] bus designed prior to the end of support for Windows NT Alpha in September 1999 (the Alpha ARC firmware was also known as AlphaBIOS)
* most Windows NT-capable [[PowerPC]] computers (such as the IBM [[RS/6000]] 40P).

It was also predicted that [[Intel]] [[IA-32]]-based computers would adopt the ARC console, although only SGI ever marketed such IA-32-based machines with ARC firmware (namely, the [[SGI Visual Workstation]] series, which went on sale in 1999).