A new Common Architecture backed by National Semiconductor Corp, Opti Inc, PicoPower Technology Inc, Standard Microsystems Corp, Texas Instruments Inc and VLSI Technology Inc is intended to interconnect personal computer components and the Peripheral Component Interconnect bus, so that manufacturers can mix and match any PCI and AT bus-compliant integrated circuits or subsystem peripherals in Windows-compatible computers. Under the common architecture structure, the microprocessor and system memory occupies the top layer of the structure and a single bridge chip can connect the microprocessor layer to the PCI bus layer, and the Common Architecture defines an interface between the PCI bus and AT devices within the PCI environment.
