The Small Form Factor Special Interest Group (SFF-SIG, pronounced ''ess-eff-eff-sig'') is an international

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

standards body A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...

focused on modular computer hardware technologies used in embedded and small form factor computers and controllers. Members are mainly computer board and component manufacturers. The group was founded in 2007 and had a web site until early 2020.

History

SFF-SIG generally targets low power components and processors from

VIA Technologies VIA Technologies Inc. (), is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory. It was the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets. As a fabless semiconductor company, VIA ...

and

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...

including the Nano and Atom processors, although products for RISC processors were discussed in some working groups. VIA, WinSystems, and Octagon Systems were founding members of SFF-SIG. It was created in 2007. A logo and web site debuted in April 2008. SFF-SIG creates, promotes, and maintains

embedded computer An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as ...

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

for

form factor Form factor or form-factor may refer to: Manufacturing * Form factor (design), an aspect of design which defines and prescribes the size, shape, and other physical specifications of hardware components, particularly in electronics and electroni ...

s and

computer bus In computer architecture, a bus (shortened form of the Latin ''omnibus'', and historically also called data highway or databus) is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers. This ex ...

es. Examples include the governing documents and trademarks for CoreExpress,

Pico-ITX In computer design, Pico-ITX is a PC motherboard form factor announced by VIA Technologies in January 2007 and demonstrated later the same year at CeBIT. The formfactor was transferred over to SFF-SIG in 2008. The Pico-ITX form factor specification ...

, Express104, and

SUMIT Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology (SUMIT) is a connector between expansion buses independent of motherboard form factor. Boards featuring SUMIT connectors are usually used in "stacks" where one board sits on top of another. It was pub ...

. Members use the specifications to build specialized embedded computers used in both commercial and rugged environments where applications insist on reliable control and

data acquisition Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the acro ...

, for example. Primarily focused on hardware, SFF-SIG defined new

single-board computer A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonstrat ...

(SBC) and

computer-on-module A computer-on-module (COM) is a type of single-board computer (SBC), a subtype of an embedded computer system. An extension of the concept of system on chip (SoC) and system in package (SiP), COM lies between a full-up computer and a microco ...

(COM) form factors. SFF-SIG standardizes expansion connectors to create the building blocks required by system manufacturers. Each specification is a free

open standard An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definitio ...

ITU-T The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and Information Commu ...

definition. Specifications often use pre-existing interface buses and interconnects such as

PCI Express PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common m ...

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broa ...

2.0, ExpressCard,

Low Pin Count The Low Pin Count (LPC) bus is a computer bus used on IBM-compatible personal computers to connect low-bandwidth devices to the CPU, such as the BIOS ROM (BIOS ROM was moved to the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus in 2006), "legacy" I/O ...

(LPC) Bus, SPI / uWire, and I2C / SMBus, with adaptations for modular and extensible usage. Some standards preserve the

Industry Standard Architecture Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) is the 16-bit internal bus of IBM PC/AT and similar computers based on the Intel 80286 and its immediate successors during the 1980s. The bus was (largely) backward compatible with the 8-bit bus of the 80 ...

(ISA) bus and legacy peripherals.

References

External links

Express104 spec boosts stackable module design
*
The Case for Smaller Form Factors in Industrial Systems
*
Pico-sized platform ushers in new era for I/O

What is SUMIT?

What is Express104

SFF-SIG Adopts CoreExpress Specification
{{Computer form factors Motherboard form factors Computer hardware standards

History

See also

References

External links