The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is a standard that already is in place on servers to integrate with operating systems. The APD effort aims to expand ACPI to bare metal switches, though it’s not a specification likely to generate impacts noticeable by the end user.
“Since bare metal switching hardware/OS integration is done by the hardware vendor and OS provider, the process isn’t directly visible to a network admin or data center operator,” Beth Carlton, Marketing Director at Cumulus Networks, told Enterprise Networking Planet. “Once the integration is done, it just works – they won’t see whether that integration was done with APD or using today’s more laborious approach. “