Bring up the subject of data standards to designers and developers in the electronics arena and be prepared to hear more than you really wanted to know! As new standards enter the scene and existing standards expand and extend their coverage, users are becoming more and more confused as to which standard to use under what circumstances. As standards translators/converters are used questions arrive on compatibility and completeness of the data content. Vendors, believing they will not make a profit on the development and sales of translators/converters, typically provide the minimum of capability leaving the user to sort of out which vendor tools support their business needs. A short survey was developed to aid in determining what standards are being and for what purposes. The survey was sent to members of the Mentor Graphics special interest group, as well as, other ECAD vendor special interest groups. This paper/presentation documents the results of that survey. The presentation will expand past the survey and provide an open forum for users to discuss their concerns over the present vendor standards and their implementations.

Bio

Gregory L. Smith is an Associate Technical Fellow with Boeing Space & Communications Group in Seattle Washington. For the past 21 years he has been developing software tools for engineering in the Electronics Design Automation arenas. He was the software director and architect for the NIST sponsored Pre-Competitive Advanced Manufacturing Processes (PreAmp) program and the DARPA sponsored Team Integrated Electronics Response (TIGER) program. Greg has received numerous awards and commendations for his work including; the ComputerWorld Object Application Award for "Best use of Object Technology in an Enterprise Environment" (1994, 1995 and 1997), the Bryan K. Martin Technical Excellence Award (1994) and the Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Award (1990). Greg holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.