METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTING COMPUTER PLATFORM FIRMWARE ACROSS A NETWORK

A method and system for storing and accessing firmware that is distributed across both local and remote storage devices. This capability is facilitated by a standard software abstraction for a firmware storage device, known as a Firmware Volume (FV), which enables platform firmware to be stored in a variety of types of devices, including remote storage devices that may be access via a network. Under this distributed firmware storage architecture, platform firmware code may be written in a manner such that only the early memory initiation code and code necessary to produce or access to an FV exists in the local system ROM. All other firmware components, including device initialization and OS bootstrap code, may be located remotely. As a result, the firmware code, such as a system's BIOS, may be updated by simply updating the portion of the firmware that is stored in the firmware volume.