The demand for computing resources to support design automation systems is growing dramatically due to VLSI design considerations. This demand has created a need for multiple computing systems to handle the escalated execution requirements of today's Design Automation tools. A distribution technique for executing such tools on multiple computing systems is discussed. The technique employs the definition of three execution modes: interactive foreground, dissociative foreground and batch. Cost and performance considerations are analyzed as they relate to the overall design automation system as well as individual job executions. An implementation of this technique is presented, including the treatment of common system interface, data management, and job submission techniques.