The continuing evolution of EDA standards

The role of standards in EDA has evolved through the years, and it continues to evolve as the industry matures. The EDA industry has existed for only about 25 years. Standards have always benefited users, and EDA standards are no exception. However, in the late 1980s, most EDA vendors viewed standards with some degree of suspicion and trepidation. Many believed that standardization meant lack of differentiation, and that standardizing design languages would quickly lead to commoditizing the tools that those languages drive. In those early years, many vendors also argued that standardization would stifle innovation. To some degree, they may have been right $simulators have certainly become commoditized during the past decade. At the same time, standard hardware description languages (HDLs) provided fertile ground for the growth of synthesis technology, which delivered a huge productivity increase in chip design.