The SPIRIT Consortium Now Non-profit Entity
The SPIRIT Consortium Looks to
the Future by Becoming an
Open, Independent, Non-Profit Organization
SAN FRANCISCO,
Design Automation Conference, July 24, 2006 – The SPIRIT Consortium™, a
global non-profit organization focused on establishing multi-faceted IP/tool
integration standards that drive sustainable growth in electronic design,
today announced its incorporation as a California non-profit mutual benefit
corporation. The
SPIRIT Consortium currently provides technical specifications that are
helping the industry integrate multi-vendor design-flows efficiently. These
specifications will benefit integrated device manufacturers by providing
faster time-to-market through automated IP configuration, integration and
verification.
The cooperative
development environment of The SPIRIT Consortium has been extremely
successful. The IP-XACT™ specification, in its current version addressing
RT-level system integration and configuration specification, is the first of
several specifications that will be sent to IEEE for consideration for
official standardization. “By bringing specifications
into the market that are achieving strong adoption today, we have built
recognition that The SPIRIT Consortium provides unique value to the
industry. It is because of the industry’s faith in our ability to deliver
that we have incorporated into a formal entity,” said Ralph von Vignau,
president of The SPIRIT Consortium. “We see a
significant future for our operations as we continue to provide high quality
specifications that support the industry requirements for efficient
multi-vendor design environments which automate taking electronic systems
design from concept to realization.”
The
SPIRIT Consortium sees a future not only based on its own deliverables, but
intends to proactively engage with other standards organizations to ensure
general industry alignment. The IEEE standardization of the specifications,
known as P1685, is the first official engagement with an external standards
body for the benefit of the industry. Basic principles of operation
for The SPIRIT Consortium include quick advancement of specifications by
allowing Contributing Members to contribute technology, which is then
incorporated and ratified by the technical committees. The features included
in The SPIRIT Consortium’s specifications are demonstrable at the point of
release, with examples and illustrations that support all
assertions.
The new organization has four classes of members, designated as Steering Committee members, Contributing Members who dedicate engineering resources to the technical working groups, Reviewing Members who help validate ALPHA and BETA versions of the specifications, and Associate Members who are non-profit organizations and research institutes interested in early release developments within The Consortium. The original Steering Committee--comprised of ARM, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, Philips Semiconductors, ST Microelectronics, and Synopsys--was recently joined by LSI Logic. The SPIRIT Consortium continues to grow at a steady pace, with well over 50 current members.
About The Consortium
The SPIRIT Consortium is a global organization focused on establishing multi-faceted IP/tool integration standards that drive sustainable growth in electronic design. It is comprised of leading EDA, IP, system integration, and semiconductor companies dedicated to the adoption of a unified set of specifications for configuring, integrating, and verifying IP in advanced SoC design tool sets. For more information on The SPIRIT Consortium and its goals, please visit www.spiritconsortium.org. For more information regarding this announcement, please contact Jayne Scheckla at 503-685-4833 or jayne_scheckla@mentor.com.
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The SPIRIT Consortium and IP-XACT are trademarks of The SPIRIT Consortium organization. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders, and all other trademarks implied or not implied are rightfully owned by the companies as registered in their country of origin.