96Boards
96Boards is an open hardware specification and ecosystem from Linaro that defines standardized form factors and interfaces for ARM-based development boards used in prototyping, edge computing, and embedded systems.
- Standardized hardware specifications for ARM-based development boards (hardware platform specification).
- Multiple board families including Consumer Edition, Enterprise Edition, and IoT/Embedded form factors (embedded/edge hardware).
- Common expansion and connector layouts for add-on mezzanine boards (hardware interoperability).
- Reference designs and compliance guidelines for silicon vendors and board manufacturers (hardware design and compliance).
- Ecosystem support through Linaro for software enablement, documentation, and community collaboration (platform enablement).
More About 96Boards
96Boards is an open hardware platform specification created by Linaro to provide a common, vendor-neutral design framework for ARM-based development boards. It addresses fragmentation in the ARM ecosystem by defining consistent board form factors, connector layouts, and expansion interfaces that silicon vendors and board manufacturers can implement for prototyping, software development, and production-oriented designs in embedded and edge environments.
The project defines several board families mapped to different use cases, including Consumer Edition (CE) boards (embedded/edge hardware) oriented toward multimedia, mobile, and general-purpose development; Enterprise Edition (EE) boards (server and networking hardware) oriented toward data center, networking, and infrastructure workloads; and IoT/Embedded editions (IoT hardware) tailored for low-power, small-form-factor applications. Each family defines physical dimensions, connector placement, and baseline feature expectations so that hardware from different vendors remains compatible at the mechanical and expansion interface levels.
A core feature of 96Boards is the standardized 40-pin or similar high-speed and low-speed expansion connectors (hardware interoperability), which allow mezzanine or daughter boards to be reused across compliant base boards. This connector strategy supports a modular approach, where sensors, connectivity modules, or specialized interfaces can be added without bespoke layouts for every board. The specification also covers interfaces such as USB, HDMI or display outputs, storage connectors, and wireless options where applicable, enabling repeatable hardware bring-up and software enablement.
In enterprise and institutional contexts, 96Boards-compliant hardware is used for ARM software enablement, Operating System (OS) validation, and early-access development on new SoCs (platform enablement). Linaro and its members use these boards as reference platforms for kernel work, toolchain validation, boot firmware, and middleware stacks. The common hardware baseline allows engineering teams to run comparable workloads, Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines, and automated test frameworks across hardware from multiple vendors with reduced board-specific variation.
The 96Boards initiative interfaces closely with Linaro’s broader engineering activities around the ARM architecture (processor architecture), including open-source toolchains, Linux kernel development, and firmware standards such as UEFI and related boot components where adopted (firmware and boot). By defining reproducible hardware targets, 96Boards supports interoperability across operating systems and distributions that choose to maintain images for these boards. The ecosystem also includes documentation, reference images, and community resources that facilitate board bring-up and integration into larger systems.
From a directory and taxonomy perspective, 96Boards is categorized as an open hardware platform specification and ecosystem for ARM-based development boards and SoC evaluation platforms, with relevance to embedded systems, edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT) prototyping, and ARM server and networking evaluation in enterprise labs and engineering organizations.