DMTF has released Version 3.5 of the System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) Reference Specification, the premier standard for delivering management information via system firmware. Since its first release in 1995, the widely implemented SMBIOS standard has simplified the management of more than two billion client and server systems. 

For OS-present, OS-absent, and pre-OS environments, SMBIOS offers motherboard and system vendors a standard format to present management information about their products. By extending the system firmware interface, SMBIOS can be used with management applications and eliminates the need for error-prone operations, such as probing system hardware for presence detection.

Version 3.5 of SMBIOS adds support or updates for current technologies, including:

• a new Firmware Inventory Information structure, allowing SMBIOS to report device firmware information for use by Redfish or other agents
• reporting manufacturing mode status
• explicit adoption of UTF-8 for all strings
• updates to pointing device interfaces, onboard device types, and processor sockets

To learn more about SMBIOS and to download Version 3.5, please visit http://www.dmtf.org/standards/smbios.