WHY USE SCSI?
NCR Corporation and Shugart Associates changed the face of
computing by developing Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
technology. Before SCSI, adding a new peripheral to a host
computer meant "teaching" the host to work with the new
peripheral by adding new hardware and/or software modules. By the
time the host computer "learned" how to work with the new
peripheral, more advanced peripherals were available, and the
host computer was unable to take advantage of them. No matter how
much development effort was spent, the peripherals that could be
used on a host system were usually at least a generation behind
current technology.
SCSI is designed to keep computers in step with advancing
technologies. SCSI enables host computers to connect with
virtually any peripheral device -- even those just off the
drawing board -- without always having to overhaul system
hardware and/or software. The host computer does not have to
"learn" a new way to communicate every time a peripheral device
is added.
SCSI works by masking the internal structure of the peripherals
from the host computer. It uses an eight-port bus that can
accommodate either single- or multiple-host systems. Its
impressive transfer rate of up to 5 Mbytes per second allows
direct copying between devices. This frees the host for
additional activity, and also gives the host power for
considerable I/O data transfers.
SCSI gives original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) , systems
integrators, and value-added-resellers (VARs) a cost-effective
way to personalize product offerings without sacrificing
compatibility. Equally important is the upward mobility provided
by the SCSI I/O bus. As new storage, printing, and communications
technologies move into the mainstream of systems design,
integrators can quickly incorporate them into their existing
systems with only minimal hardware engineering and software
development.
(From What is SCSI? Understandinq the Small Computer System
Interface, NCR Corporation, 1988.)
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