Hardware interface
From AllPinouts
Hardware interface is an architecture used to interconnect two pieces of electric equipment. It includes the design of the plug and socket (electrical connector), the type, number and purpose of the wires and the electrical signals that are passed across them. USB, FireWire, Ethernet, parallel and serial ports as well as CompactFlash cards, PCI cards and PC Cards are all examples of hardware interfaces (devices connecting to other devices).
In computing, an hardware interface can also be known as a physical interface.
There are some standardization organizations responsible for many common interfaces standards:
- TIA - Telecommunications Industry Association
- EIA - Electronic Industries Alliance
- ITU - International Telecommunication Union
- CCITT - International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (now replaced by the ITU)
- MIL-STD - United States Military Standards
- FED-STD - Federal Telecommunications Standard Committee
