Chips: Lucent Technologies Joins Si2 ECIX Project; PTAB Accepts New Customer Advisory Board Proposal, Moves to XML - Silicon Integration Initiative, electronic component standard - Internet/Web/Online Service Information

EDGE, On & About AT&T, March 15, 1999

Silicon Integration Initiative Inc. (Si2), an industry organization that provides synergistic multi-company engineering services, Monday announced that Lucent Technologies has joined industry leaders, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Philips Semiconductors, Motorola, and Texas Instruments on the Project Technical Advisory Board (PTAB) of the Electronic Component Information Exchange (ECIX) project.

At a recent PTAB meeting, a proposal to provide increased focus on evolving customer requirements from an ECIX-endorsed Customer Advisory Board (CAB) was approved, called the Quick Reference Data for Compliance Level 1 (QRD CL1) requirements specification.

Similar to popular web search engines on the Internet, the planned QRD CL1 specification will enable electronic component customers and other component information end users to make standard queries to compliant suppliers over the Internet, and receive real time responses in a standard format. For example, an engineer could develop a query for a 64M DRAM memory in a SIPP package, and have that one query sent to multiple suppliers at the same time, with all matching responses obtained in real time for designer review.

"This is a significant step forward for the ECIX project," stated Ed Hutson, project manager for the Lucent Technologies Global Component Information Management system. "This effort is a key step in building the momentum which will be required to achieve wide-spread implementation of this standard in our supply base."

Hutson added, "This move signifies the great momentum of the project. The ECIX customer team companies are committed to promoting this standard to their suppliers. With this support, I believe this standard will achieve widespread adoption over the next couple of years, and provide great value to Lucent Technologies. Further, it forms a foundation for many more types of important technical information transactions for us, and all adopting suppliers and customers."

The CAB, headed up by Ed Hutson of Lucent Technologies, and also represented by Hewlett-Packard, Seagate, Tektronix, and Xerox, proposed standardizing on a small set of truly useful information needed by customers. This proposed subset information would also be compliant to the ECIX Pinnacles Component Information Specification (PCIS), but would require certain information to be made available in compliant responses to queries. By starting with this QRD specification, customers and suppliers alike will have a natural migration path, and a dramatically reduced cost of adoption from "easy ECIX entry" to "full ECIX adoption."

The QRD extension to the ECIX specification will benefit customers by defining a single query/response system that spans all component suppliers. The QRD specification also benefits component suppliers by defining quick reference data responses in a single QRD format for all customers. Further, this ECIX specification will ensure rapid and reliable access to currently available supplier component datasheet PDFs, and to additional information such as simulation models, life-cycle data, or other information deemed important between suppliers and customers per their individual business relationships.

Another important decision made by the PTAB is that all ECIX specifications will become XML-compliant in 1999. The impact of the Internet on the business world has been very large, and is still growing. Many users of the Internet are preparing for adoption of the emerging eXtensible Markup Language (XML) suite of standards in the near term. The ECIX team also believes that XML will play a large role in Internet component information transfer and related applications development, and has therefore adopted XML in all ECIX specifications. This includes the Component Information Dictionary Specification (CIDS), the Timing Diagram Markup Language (TDML) Specification, as well as PCIS and the new PCIS-based specification for Quick Reference Data.

The ECIX project anticipates demonstration of this Quick Reference Data specification for dynamic query and response to be completed and ready for demonstration and production use by DAC '99 in New Orleans, June 21-23.

The ECIX program was formed in the second half of 1996. The goal of the ECIX project sponsors, DARPA, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM Microelectronics, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Intel, National Semiconductor, Philips Semiconductors, and Texas Instruments, is to provide a seamless flow of component information in both computer and human sensible format from suppliers to end-use customers exploiting the latest media distribution technologies.

For more information on the ECIX project visit its web site at http://www.si2.org/ecix.> Silicon Integration Initiative Inc. (Si2) provides engineering consultation and services to industry-leading silicon, electronic systems, and EDA companies for synergistic multi-company efforts focused on improving productivity and costs in the design and production of integrated silicon systems. The organization represents more than 40 members throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.