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Until now, software portability across computers from competing manufacturers has been limited to Intel-based PCs. The MIPS System V Application Binary Interface (ABI) brings the possibility of a similar approach to high-performance UNIX systems ranging from laptops to mainframes.
Since 1991, companies committed to the MIPS® RISC architecture have been working together to deliver this level of software portability in a completely open UNIX environment in the MIPS RISC architecture.
The members of the MIPS ABI Group, Inc. are:
The group's objectives are to:
Software developers can no longer afford the cost of maintaining ports to numerous UNIX operating systems, many of which are not identical. In addition, many hardware companies primarily address specific market niches and don't offer the critical market size needed to make a software product successful. Thus, to maintain profitability, many developers are limiting support to four or five hardware platforms that will give them the best value for their engineering, marketing and sales resources, leaving other geographic or niche markets uncovered and thereby losing prospective sales opportunities.
UNIX System V, Release 4 (SVR4) has emerged as a dominant UNIX standard. Computer companies using SVR4 on the MIPS RISC processor have agreed upon an extended set of the standard Application Binary Interface (ABI). The MIPS ABI addresses which system-level and application interface calls to be supported in the operating system and compilers.
Specifically, SCO publishes the generic ABI or "gABI", the standard SVR4 ABI document. SCO also provides the "processor specific" ABI or "psABI" for each microprocessor architecture (MIPS, SPARC, Intel, etc.). The psABI contains extensions to the gABI that are unique for each microprocessor. SCO also provides for the creation of further extensions through the MIPS ABI Conformance Guide. This guide includes functional extensions to the MIPS ABI that make it more useful to software developers.
The MIPS ABI Conformance Guide (also know as the "Black Book") contains implementation guidelines and defines additional capabilities beyond the binary standards provided by gABI and the psABI. These include object files, dynamic linking, system commands, windowing (X11, Motif), terminal interfaces and other important extensions.
Information on the MIPS ABI, gABI and psABI is available from SCO or reference books available in most computer bookstores. The "MIPS ABI Conformance Guide in printed form is available from the MIPS ABI Developer Program.
A software developer porting to the MIPS ABI Reference Platform is, in effect, porting to many of the computer industry's leaders including Concurrent Computer, Control Data Systems, NEC, Pyramid, Siemens Nixdorf, Silicon Graphics, SONY, and Tandem. These companies also have many VARs who resell their own compatible, private labeled systems.
According to IDC, the MIPS ABI Group, Inc. represents the third largest UNIX market worldwide. Member companies collectively represent hundreds of thousands of installed seats worldwide and more than $4 billion in annual UNIX-based hardware revenues. In 1992, the MIPS ABI group shipped 59,400 MIPS RISC-based UNIX systems, more than any single RISC UNIX competitor except Sun SPARC, according to International Data Corp. estimates. The 1993 IDC Workstations and High-Performance Systems Report shows that the number of systems shipped has increased to 87,015 and more than $4 billion in annual UNIX-based hardware revenues. Since many MIPS RISC systems are used in the commercial multiuser market, the number of actual users or seats associated with each MIPS-based system can be as high as 100 to 1,000 per system.
From a geographical standpoint, the MIPS ABI provides leadership positions in Europe, Japan and North America. Sony and NEC are leading computer vendors in the Pacific Rim. Siemens Nixdorf is one of the largest computer companies in Europe and DDE is a leading supplier of multiprocessing systems in Scandanavia. In addition, the MIPS ABI companies represent some of the most successful commercial applications-oriented companies, with leadership in both commercial fault-tolerant, real-time, and visual computing.
As indicated above, the MIPS ABI member companies support the Reference Platform model approach for supporting software vendors. This model assures developers that they need only port to a single specified operating system on a single specified hardware system. All MIPS ABI-compatible companies guarantee that their systems will support binaries generated on the Reference Platform. Information on the current MIPS ABI Reference Platform can be found in the Conformance Guide.
The MIPS ABI compatible companies work together to ensure that all operating systems are indeed compatible. This is done both through proactive, coordinated engineering efforts and rigorous testing. The MIPS ABI testing process involves more than 10,000 test suites and more than 1,000,000 lines of code that test for MIPS ABI conformance and functionality, plus stress and load. Independently supplied applications including the Oracle RDBMS and The SAS System from SAS Institute are used as real-market tests of binary compatibility.
These companies believe that the Reference Platform model is the superior model for software developers as it delivers a real system with a real operating system for developers to port and support their products on. This compares to other models, such as the "virtual" reference port model, under which developers may never be assured that the product actually runs on any given system in the marketplace.
Member companies have and will continue to provide developers with systems for development and support via porting centers (located worldwide), telephone access to systems, discounts for system purchases and rental programs. Technical support is provided at the porting centers and via electronic mail services. ISVs that register for a MIPS ABI port receive the MIPS ABI Conformance Guide and a separate Frequently Asked Questions Guide, as well as newsletters and technical bulletins.
UNIX applications currently ported to the MIPS RISC architecture will easily migrate to the MIPS ABI Reference Platform operating system, often just by recompiling. To access a system, developers simply need to contact the MIPS ABI Developer Program by sending email to devprogram@sgi.com or calling 1-415-933-3033 or 1-800-770-3033 or to receive technical reference and marketing materials and information on technical support services.
Upon notification of a completed port, information on the ISV's products is distributed to all member companies. In addition, developers receive regularly distributed information regarding changes in MIPS ABI group members' systems, markets and sales strategies.
The success of this effort lies in the cooperative marketing programs between member companies. These programs are designed to ensure that ported applications get maximum visibility to prospective customers via applications directories, seminar programs, literature distribution and tradeshows.
Each company's sales force is provided with applications directories that include all MIPS ABI-compatible applications. Together, this represents over 10,000 sales people in over 600 sales offices worldwide, all of whom represent software developer's products to their customers.
The success of the MIPS ABI program depends upon cooperative efforts between the member companies and the software developer community. Both must be mutually committed to the other's success.
These mutual commitments include:
The MIPS ABI is the realization of perhaps the most famous pledge of open systems vendors -- one port will provide access to multiple platforms. Industry groups grappling with diverse system architectures and inherently incompatible UNIX flavors have repeatedly seen this promise broken as technological and competitive barriers kept them from fulfilling the ideal of open systems.
The MIPS ABI Group, however, recognizes the shortcomings of previous efforts to reign in different version of UNIX to simplify and strengthen choices for both software vendors and customers. The MIPS ABI group's approach -- publishing an application binary interface capable of running across all MIPS RISC-based systems and identifying a single Reference Platform -- sidesteps many of those technological barriers.
The result is a proven manifestation of the open systems promise -- and the opportunity for clear and easy choices both for ISVs and for end users.
Q: What are the main objectives of the MIPS ABI group?
Q: What benefit do software companies like Oracle and SAS gain by being
members of the MIPS ABI group?
Q: What standards are supported by the MIPS ABI?
Q: Does the MIPS ABI group utilize the ABI for MIPS as published by SCO?
Q: What is the "Reference Platform model" and why was it selected over
other models?
Q: How are platforms guaranteed to be compliant with the MIPS ABI reference
operating system?
Q: How can a software developer port their product to the MIPS ABI
Reference Platform and sell their product on compliant platforms?
Q: What technical and marketing assistance is available to software developers?
Q: How does one get a copy of the gABI, psABI?
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This site is under construction, please be patient!
Maintained by
webmaster@mipsabi.org
last modified September 28, 1995