286 processor or 80286 processor, a significant enhancements over the 8086/8088 line, was introduced by Intel in 1982. The 286 processor mainly introduced protected mode and the ability to address up to 16 megabytes of memory. The 286 processor was used in the IBM XT range.

In computer architecture, 32-bit describes integers, memory addresses or other data units that are at most 32 bits (4 octets or 4 bytes) wide, or to describe CPU and ALU architectures based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. 32-bit is also a term given to a generation of computers, during which time 32-bit processors were the norm. The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4294967295, or -2147483648 through 2147483647 using two's complement encoding. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GiB of byte-addressable memory.

386 processor (or 80386 processor) was introduced in 1985 by Intel, which was the first processor to use 32 bit addressing, allowing it to utilise up to 4 Gigabytes of memory.The 386 processor was manufactured in many different versions and ran at speeds from 16 Mhz through to 40 Mhz.

386SX is a cut down version of the 386 processor which had a lower memory throughput, as it could only access 16 megabytes of memory.

The 486 processor (or 80486 processor) family was introduced in 1989 by Intel. Lack of significant enhancements over than the 386, it had more transistors and could run at higher clock speeds. The 486 processor had two versions: 486 SX with no math co-processor and the standard 486 DX versions. The 486 initially ran at clock speeds of 25 MHz (SX only) and 33 MHz. The more advanced versions of 486 such as 486 DX-2 can run at speeds of 50, 66 and 75 MHz, and then 486 DX-4 can run up to 100 MHz.

A 4-way server provides better performance, scalability and higher availability (fault tolerant) by supporting four CPUs processors. Each CPUs can conduct individual processes simultaneously. They can work like 4 individual computers, or work as a group to process a large job together, or simply work as the back-up for each other to increase fault tolerance.

In computer architecture, 64-bit describes integers, memory addresses or other data units that are, at most, 64 bits (8 octets or 8 bytes) wide, or describes CPU and ALU architectures based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. As of 2004, 64-bit CPUs are common in servers, and have recently been introduced to the (previously 32-bit) mainstream personal computer arena in the form of the AMD64, EM64T, and PowerPC 970 (or "G5") processor architectures

The 8086 and 8088 processors were developed by Intel in 1979, which was selected by IBM in 1981 as the CPU for its first commercial personal computer. The Intel 8086/8088 range of processors were based upon Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) which allows the number of bytes per instruction to vary according to the instruction being processed. The architechture pioneered by Intel has become known as "x86" due to the early naming system where processors were called 8086, 80186 (not used in PC's), 80286, 80386, and 80486.

A 8-way server includes 8 CPUs in one computer which provides better performance, scalability and higher availability (fault tolerant). Each CPUs can conduct individual processes simultaneously. They can work like 8 individual computers, or work as a group to process a large job together, or simply work as the back-up for each other to increase fault tolerance.

Analog/Digital Converter (A/D converter or ADC), a hardware device, can read an analog signal (such as voltage) and converts the resulting percentage to a digital value after comparing it to a reference signal. A D/A Converter is just performing the reverse function.