The ITE IT8211 ATA/ATAPI Controller is a hardware driver used for managing the ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) and ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface) devices in a computer. This controller is typically part of a motherboard or an expansion card and allows the system to communicate with storage devices like hard drives and optical drives (CD/DVD drives) that use the ATA or ATAPI standards. The IT8211 controller supports PATA (Parallel ATA) and ATAPI devices, which were more common before the advent of Serial ATA (SATA) drives.