CFI leads Electronic Component Information project; Nine companies join project to deliver standards-based solution for Electronic Component Information access.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 1996--CFI, Inc. announced Monday that nine companies have agreed to fund and participate in an Electronic Component Information (ECI) project to develop a standards-based solution to enable distribution and use of electronic component information via the World Wide Web and other electronic media.

Deliverables for the project include a standard for the electronic interchange of electronic component information based on extensions to the Pinnacles Component Information Standard (PCIS) v1.2, and a Component Information Dictionary Standard (CIDS) which is based on IEEE, JEDEC, and IEC1360 component information dictionary standards. The CIDS will also incorporate key enabling technology from the two component information suppliers Aspect Development, Inc., and Information Handling Services, Inc.

The project plans to make seed money available for commercial development of key components of the solution on a cost sharing basis.

The Pinnacles Group has agreed to transfer copyrights for the PCIS to CFI. CFI is in discussion with Aspect Development, Inc. and Information Handling Services, Inc., to do the same for parts of their proprietary component information dictionary technologies.

Bob Yencha, staff systems analyst with National Semiconductor stated, "All of those who are involved with the new ECI project believe that the timing is right to broaden participation as we move from standards development to tool development and implementation. This wider distribution and adoption of PCIS and CIDS coupled with the rapid expansion of the Internet gives us a practical and cost effective infrastructure to support electronic information distribution. We believe the linchpin for our success will be the industry's adoption and use of standards in this area and we plan to work aggressively with CFI's dedicated staff to gain industry buy-in."

Andrew Graham, president of CFI said, "The ECI project is modeled after CFI's latest success with the Delay Calculation Language Standard where we accelerated the standards adoption process by transferring proven proprietary technology from IBM to CFI to be standardized and made available to the industry. We believe the technology transfers from the Pinnacles Group, Aspect Development and Information Handling Services will prove to be equally successful."

Each of the nine participating companies have a voting seat on the Project Technical Advisory Board (PTAB) which will provide direction for the project. Participating companies include Aspect Development, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi America, Ltd., IBM, Information Handling Services, Inc., Intel Corporation, National Semiconductor, Philips Semiconductors, and Texas Instruments Incorporated.

Initially reporting to the PTAB will be the PCIS and CIDS working groups, with plans for other working groups to address EDA interface requirements and to develop Core Electronic Data Book Exchange Profiles in conjunction with other organizations defining minimum data exchanges for various classes of components.

The PCIS is currently in distribution as a Draft European Standard (EN502471) by CENELEC as a prelude to submission to the IEC in Q4 of 1996.

In addition to the development of the standards that support this system, the project members are committed to accelerating the adoption of the standards by finding methods to seed development of a set of Electronic Data Book authoring tools for component suppliers, browse and selection tools for engineering and procurement customers, and library generation tools for EDA integrators.

The Pinnacles Group was formed in 1992 as an independent consortium to accelerate development and encourage commercial implementors to develop, deliver, and use electronic component information. For more information contact http://www.cfi.org/pinnacles.

CFI, Inc. was established in 1988 and is an independent industry effort to facilitate and promote the adoption of open EDA technologies which improve designer productivity. Members include more than 40 design tools, workstation and semiconductor suppliers and CAD designers in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information on CFI contact http://www.cfi.org or [e-mail].

CONTACT: CFI Inc., Austin

Sarah Logsdon, 512/342-2244 ext.32; Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]