The tools are designed to help develop systems which often feature large numbers of networked computers delivering control and feedback.

[1] EPICS was initially developed as the Ground Test Accelerator Controls System (GTACS) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 1988 by Bob Dalesio, Jeff Hill, et al.[2]  In 1989, Marty Kraimer from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) came to work alongside the GTA controls team for 6 months, bringing his experience from his work on the Advanced Photon Source (APS) Control System to the project.

The resulting software was renamed EPICS and was presented at the International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems (ICALEPCS) in 1991.

This information is then provided to clients, using the high-bandwidth Channel Access (CA)[4] or the recently added pvAccess[5][6] networking protocols that are designed to suit real-time applications such as scientific experiments.

IOCs can be hosted by stock-standard servers or PCs or by VME, MicroTCA, and other standard embedded system processors.