Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1417991
34 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2021 tage to using and adopting it as much as they wanted to make changes to it. With the lack of interest, it went by the wayside and was lost. en, in 2010, Valor was acquired by Mentor Graphics, which raised concern among non- Mentor users. ey were concerned that ODB, a proprietary format for Valor, and which was considered independent, would now be con- trolled by Mentor Graphics. ey were wor- ried that Mentor would focus on its own cus- tomer base more than it would anyone else. So, an effort was put forth to create the IPC-2581 Consortium, which is cel- ebrating its 10th year in 2021. Driven by Hemant Shah, the 2581 Consortium began with about 10 members, and now is well over 100 mem- bers. When I became involved in 2011, we asked, "What can we do to 2581 to make it more acceptable in the indus- try? What data is miss- ing, and what has been done to validate the data that was output at that time?" We spent a great amount of effort between various tool pro- viders like Cadence, Down- stream, Wise, Adiva, and Zuken. We all created 2581 output and compared the data outputs against each other. We learned that in formats, if you don't explicitly state something, it's like a Rorschach inkblot test where everyone sees something different. With that, we realized that we needed to have a consensus on how things should be and stan- dardize everything. We saw the benefit of the XML format and its ability to add more and more intelligent data, so that not only am I creating output like out- lines, drill holes, and artwork layers, but now I can start embedding some BOM information. I can put in my company part number for a part and link it to manufacturers' part numbers. I can add attributes to objects (which we call specs), where I can designate something spe- cific in the format that must have particular attention paid to it—something like a cham- fered edge, or a plated edge. We began to build and add more data into it until we got to what we see today. Shaughnessy: I know IPC-2581 has been grow- ing. What are the advantages? Why should someone be motivated to switch to 2581? Acheson: Number one, it's an open format. I don't have to buy a license to use it. I can actually create so- ware around it so I can embed or extract certain pieces of informa- tion from it. at's a big advantage, especially if I'm an enterprise type of company that has the tech- nology to do this. It's also a one-file database; I can output everything I need in one file. I don't have to worry about synchroniz- ing multiple files and trying to merge them together to understand an end result. It's all there in one file. It's not binary. It's XML. Shaughnessy: We did a survey recently asking what would motivate any of the designer read- ers to switch to another data format, and the number one thing they said was, "Simplifying the process." ey said they don't care about cost. Dan Feinberg: ey lie (laughs). Shaughnessy: Designers wouldn't lie (laughs).