A Management Controller (MC) or Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) usually requires Ethernet connectivity for remote management. Initially, MC’s had a dedicated Ethernet port to achieve this connectivity. Later, Ethernet manufacturers started using proprietary sideband interfaces to provide a mechanism by which the MC could share an Ethernet port with the Operating System. This interface was generally based upon the I2C/SMBus interface, but had a proprietary protocol. The DMTF set out to create an industry standard sideband interface that would operate at a much greater speed than SMBus and alleviate some of the burden on BMC engineers who, for years, had been writing different Ethernet code based on which manufacturers’ Ethernet device was used as the LOM (LAN on Motherboard) for the server board.