Sharing standards work with Japan

The IEEE is an international body, and its standards are likewise international in scope. However, in many areas such as EDA, the major locus of development work is in the US, and more specifically, in Silicon Valley. It is very easy to take the path of least resistance and hold standards meetings in San Jose, California, where attendance is generally good because many participants live within a few miles. Unfortunately, this path can lead to a myopic view of user needs and frustrate interested people from other regions. The Design Automation Standards Committee (DASC; http://www.dasc.org) of the IEEE Computer Society has a long history of rotating its meetings to other areas, including Europe and Asia, to avoid this problem.