<s>
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
,	O
for	O
simple	O
link	O
interface	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
high-performance	O
data	B-Algorithm
acquisition	I-Algorithm
standard	O
developed	O
at	O
CERN	O
for	O
collecting	O
information	O
from	O
particle	O
accelerators	O
and	O
other	O
sources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
similar	O
systems	O
,	O
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
is	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
idea	O
that	O
data	O
will	O
be	O
collected	O
and	O
stored	O
by	O
computers	O
at	O
both	O
ends	O
of	O
the	O
link	O
,	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
a	O
"	O
dumb	O
"	O
devices	O
collecting	O
data	O
to	O
be	O
stored	O
on	O
a	O
"	O
smart	O
"	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Having	O
a	O
full	O
computer	O
at	O
both	O
ends	O
allows	O
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
to	O
be	O
very	O
thin	O
,	O
primarily	O
defining	O
the	O
logical	O
standards	O
used	O
to	O
feed	O
data	O
at	O
high	O
speed	O
from	O
the	O
motherboards	O
to	O
the	O
link	O
hardware	O
interfaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
started	O
in	O
1995	O
in	O
response	O
to	O
problems	O
collecting	O
data	O
from	O
the	O
new	O
ATLAS	O
experiment	O
at	O
CERN	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
was	O
seen	O
as	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
single	O
mechanism	O
for	O
forwarding	O
the	O
data	O
from	O
the	O
collection	O
to	O
the	O
link	O
hardware	O
with	O
extremely	O
low	O
latency	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Generally	O
the	O
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
hardware	O
provided	O
functionality	O
that	O
would	O
normally	O
be	O
provided	O
by	O
networking	O
(	O
or	O
other	O
)	O
drivers	O
running	O
on	O
the	O
host	O
CPU	B-General_Concept
,	O
thereby	O
tying	O
up	O
cycles	O
and	O
introducing	O
delays	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
S-LINK	B-General_Concept
used	O
a	O
32-bit	O
bus	O
running	O
up	O
to	O
66MHz	O
,	O
allowing	O
for	O
throughout	O
up	O
to	O
264	O
MB/s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
"	O
link	O
side	O
"	O
was	O
typically	O
connected	O
to	O
optical	B-Architecture
fibre	I-Architecture
for	O
transmission	O
to	O
the	O
collecting	O
machines	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
read-out	O
motherboard	O
,	O
or	O
ROMB	O
.	O
</s>
