Modem Requirements

This section presents general requirements for modems.

There are two types of modems to consider.

• Traditional modems, such as the type used in common PCs that are connected to the server system by a serial port, or a driver that emulates one.
  
  
• Network modems, designed for large servers, that are connected to the server system by networking drivers, for example, NDIS 5.0 miniports.

Serial modems. The fundamental design principle for compatibility with Windows NT is for a serial modem to be supported by the Universal Modem Driver (Unimodem), which uses INF files to characterize device operation. Unimodem INF design is described in the Modem Developer’s Kit, http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/modem/.

Networking modems. The fundamental design principle for compatibility with Windows NT is for a networking modem to be supported by NDIS 5.0, as defined in the Windows NT 5.0 DDK.

Note: It is recognized that OEMs supply systems to corporations in situations where the customer will insert modem devices at the end-user site or where the customer has particular feature demands. Server systems designed for specific corporate customers are exempt from these requirements.