Information About Cisco Service Modules and Network Interface Modules
The router configures, manages, and controls the supported Cisco Service Modules (SMs), Network Interface Modules (NIMs) and PIM (Pluggable Interface Modules) using the module management facility built in its architecture. This new centralized module management facility provides a common way to control and monitor all the modules in the system regardless of their type and application. All Cisco Enhanced Service and Network Interface Modules supported on your router use standard IP protocols to interact with the host router. Cisco IOS software uses alien data path integration to switch between the modules.