If you are a software developer or a system integrator you are all too familiar with the following problem: You are writing an application that requires direct hardware access. Unfortunately, that access is no longer available in modern operating systems. So you have to locate and study reams of specifications to write the appropriate drivers, and that is a complex and time-consuming job. To ease the burden, Advantech has created SUSI (Secure and Unified Smart Interface), a suite of application program interfaces that allows users to directly monitor and control digital I/O, I2C, CPU stepping speed, watchdog timers, smart fans and access hardware monitoring sensors.

	GPIO General Purpose Input/Output is a flexible parallel interface that allows a variety of custom connections. Advantech also provides programmable GPIO, which allows developers to dynamically set the GPIO input or output status.
	SMBus The SMBus API allows a developer to nterface an embedded system environment and transfer serial messages using the SMBus protocols, allowing multiple simultaneous device control.
	I2C The I2C API allows a developer to interface an embedded system environment and transfer serial messages using the I2C protocols, allowing multiple simultaneous device control.

	Watchdog A watchdog timer can be programmed to perform a warm boot (restarting the system) after a certain number of seconds.
	Hardware Monitor The Hardware Monitor (HWM) API is a system health supervision API that inspects certain condition indexes, such as fan speed, temperature and voltage.
	Hardware Control The Hardware Control API allows developers to set the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) value to adjust fan speed or other device options; can also be used to adjust the LCD brightness.

	Brightness The Brightness Control API allows a developer to interface with an embedded device and easily control brightness.
	Backlight The Backlight API allows a developer to control the backlight (screen) on/off in an embedded device.

	CPU Speed Employs Intel SpeedStep technology to reduce power consumption. The system will automatically adjust the CPU speed depending on system loading.
	System Throttling Refers to a series of methods for reducing power consumption in computers by lowering the clock frequency. This API allows user to lower the clock from 87.5% to 12.5%.