A number of industry trends are shaping the requirements for ICand electronic equipment design. The density and complexity ofcircuit technologies have increased to a point where design cannotbe performed without EDA tools. The availability of completelydesigned and verified reusable design components has become amajor impediment to meeting required design productivity goals.Design reuse is moving down the package hierarchy to includechip design in addition to PCA design.At the same time, the widespread use of Internet and WorldwideWeb technologies offer component suppliers global access tocustomers, and component users access to suppliers, worldwide.To realize the full potential of modern technology, it is necessarythat a level of consistency be defined and used to representcomponent information. Standard formats for datasheets andstandard terminology within datasheets aids customers in theiranalysis and value-comparison of components from multiplesuppliers. Additionally, standards are required to facilitatesoftware tools than can help automate current manual processes topopulate customer's Component Information System (CIS)databases and generate CAD libraries from this componentinformation.Electronic Component Information Exchange (ECIX) is a multi-companyproject that is focused on the development of standardsand architecture that supports the flow of component informationfrom suppliers to all potential customers in a manner thatimproves productivity for: Component suppliers Information suppliers Component engineering CAD library development Product designersBy working collaboratively, these companies are able to tackle aproblem that is too large for any individual company, yetminimizes development cost. Even though they are all businesscompetitors, they are committed to cooperation for thedevelopment of ECIX as its success will provide industry-widebenefits to all.