Now that I have thousands of intelligent and knowledgeable people visiting this site daily, I'm going to put a question out there that has been plaguing me for years.

Many computers, as they are starting up and just before the operating system starts to load, will display the message, "Verifying DMI Pool Data..."

What the heck is DMI Pool Data?

A Google search turns up all kinds of information about what to do if your PC hangs at this point in the boot up process. I am curious, however, about where the term comes from and what exactly it refers to. I've seen a heck of a lot of computers that display this message while booting up. Well?