not to be confused with Advanced RISC Machines

Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) is a specification promulgated by a defunct consortium of computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 manufacturers (the Advanced Computing Environment

Advanced Computing Environment

The Advanced Computing Environment was defined by an industry consortium in the early 1990s to be the next generation commodity computing platform, the successor to personal computers based on Intel's 32-bit instruction set architecture...

 project), setting forth a standard MIPS

MIPS Technologies

MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was...

 RISC-based computer hardware

Computer hardware

Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...

 and firmware

Firmware

In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...

 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

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 Windows NT

Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...

-based operating systems (such as Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

) used ARC conventions for naming boot

Booting

In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...

 devices before Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

.

Further, SGI

Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...

 uses a modified version of the ARC firmware (which it calls ARCS) in its systems. All SGI computers which run IRIX

IRIX

IRIX is a computer operating system developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. to run natively on their 32- and 64-bit MIPS architecture workstations and servers. It was based on UNIX System V with BSD extensions. IRIX was the first operating system to include the XFS file system.The last major version...

 6.1 or later (such as the Indy

SGI Indy

The Indy, code-named "Guinness", is a low-end workstation introduced on 12 July 1993. Developed and manufactured by Silicon Graphics Incorporated , it was the result of their attempt to obtain a share of the low-end computer-aided design market, which was dominated at the time by other workstation...

, Octane

SGI Octane

The Octane and the similar Octane2 are UNIX workstations marketed by SGI. Both are 2-way SMP-capable workstations, originally based on the MIPS R10000 microprocessor. Newer Octanes are based on MIPS R12000 and R14000. The Octane2 has four improvements compared to Octane, a revised power supply,...

, 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
  MIPS Magnum
  The MIPS Magnum was a line of computer workstations designed by MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. and based on the MIPS series of RISC microprocessors. The first Magnum was released in March, 1990, and production of various models continued until 1993 when SGI bought MIPS Technologies. SGI cancelled the...
  
   workstation
• all Alpha
  DEC Alpha
  Alpha, originally known as Alpha AXP, is a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , designed to replace the 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computer ISA and its implementations. Alpha was implemented in microprocessors...
  
  -based machines with a PCI
  Peripheral Component Interconnect
  Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
  
   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
  PowerPC
  PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
  
   computers (such as the IBM RS/6000
  RS/6000
  RISC System/6000, or RS/6000 for short, is a family of RISC and UNIX based servers, workstations and supercomputers made by IBM in the 1990s. The RS/6000 family replaced the IBM RT computer platform in February 1990 and was the first computer line to see the use of IBM's POWER and PowerPC based...
  
   40P).

It was also predicted that Intel IA-32

IA-32

IA-32 , also known as x86-32, i386 or x86, is the CISC instruction-set architecture of Intel's most commercially successful microprocessors, and was first implemented in the Intel 80386 as a 32-bit extension of x86 architecture...

-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

SGI Visual Workstation

The SGI Visual Workstation was a series workstation computers manufactured by Silicon Graphics, Inc. designed to run Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Linux. The Visual Workstations are notable for their use of Intel Pentium II and Pentium III processors...

 series, which went on sale in 1999).

Products complying (to some degree) with the ARC standard include:

• Alpha
  • DEC
    Digital Equipment Corporation
    Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
    
     Multia
    DEC Multia
    The Multia, later re-branded the Universal Desktop Box, was a line of desktop computers introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation on 7 November 1994. The line is notable in that units were offered with either an Alpha AXP or Intel Pentium processor as the CPU, and most hardware other than the...
    
     and AlphaStation
    AlphaStation
    AlphaStation was the name given to a series of computer workstations, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and latterly by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaStations were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microprocessor...
    
    /AlphaServer
    AlphaServer
    AlphaServer was the name given to a series of server computers, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and latterly by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaServers were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microprocessor...
    
    
  • DeskStation Raptor
• i386
  • SGI Visual Workstation
    SGI Visual Workstation
    The SGI Visual Workstation was a series workstation computers manufactured by Silicon Graphics, Inc. designed to run Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Linux. The Visual Workstations are notable for their use of Intel Pentium II and Pentium III processors...
    
    
• MIPS
  • Acer
    Acer (company)
    Acer Incorporated is a multinational information technology and electronics corporation headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, smartphones and peripherals...
    
     PICA
    Acer PICA
    The M6100 PICA is a system logic chipset designed by Acer Laboratories introduced in 1993. PICA stands for Performance-enhanced Input-output and CPU Architecture. It was based on the Jazz architecture developed by Microsoft and supported the MIPS Technologies R4000 or R4400 microprocessors...
    
    
  • Carrera Computers, Inc Cobra R4000 and VIPER
  • Digital
    Digital Equipment Corporation
    Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
    
     DECstation 5000
  • DeskStation Tyne
    DeskStation Tyne
    The DeskStation Tyne was a line of computer workstations made by DeskStation Technology and based on the MIPS R4000 and R4400 RISC microprocessors...
    
    
  • Microsoft
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
    
     Jazz
    Jazz (computer)
    The Jazz computer architecture was a motherboard and chipset design originally developed by Microsoft for use in developing Windows NT. The design was eventually used as the basis for most MIPS-based Windows NT systems....
    
    
  • MIPS Magnum
    MIPS Magnum
    The MIPS Magnum was a line of computer workstations designed by MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. and based on the MIPS series of RISC microprocessors. The first Magnum was released in March, 1990, and production of various models continued until 1993 when SGI bought MIPS Technologies. SGI cancelled the...
    
    
  • Olivetti
    Olivetti
    Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.- Founding :The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti...
    
     M700
  • NEC RISCstation
    NEC RISCstation
    The NEC RISCstation was a line of computer workstations made by NEC in the mid-1990s, based on MIPS RISC microprocessors and designed to run Microsoft Windows NT...
    
    
  • NeTpower Fastseries MP
  • SGI
    Silicon Graphics
    Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
    
     Indigo², Indy
    SGI Indy
    The Indy, code-named "Guinness", is a low-end workstation introduced on 12 July 1993. Developed and manufactured by Silicon Graphics Incorporated , it was the result of their attempt to obtain a share of the low-end computer-aided design market, which was dominated at the time by other workstation...
    
    , Challenge, Onyx, Origin etc. Big-Endian ARCS
  • Siemens-Nixdorf
    Siemens AG
    Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
    
     RM200, RM300, RM400
• PowerPC
  • IBM
    IBM
    International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
    
     Personal Computer Power Series 850/830 PReP
    Prep
    Prep may refer to:* A nickname for anything associated with a University-preparatory school, such as:** A member of the Preppy social group, stemming from the word "preparatory"** Another name for someone who attends a preparatory school in the US...
    
    
  • IBM RS/6000 40P, 43P, E20, F30
  • Motorola
    Motorola
    Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
    
    PowerStack
  • Tangent MediaStar