The IBIS Open Forum & Parser Information

| IBIS Open Forum | IBISCHK - The IBIS Golden Parser | IBIS Interconnect Modeling - ICM and ICMCHK |

The IBIS Open Forum

The IBIS Open Forum is the industry organization responsible for the management of the IBIS specification. The Open Forum meets every three weeks by teleconference. Membership is open to all interested companies.

Paid member companies may cast votes regarding specification changes and approvals, financial matters, election of officers and other organizational issues involving the Open Forum. Dues are US $900 per year. Membership dues go directly to maintain the organization's web site, pay for specification balloting, legal and bookkeeping services and the like as provided by our parent organization, the GEIA.

The Open Forum also holds IBIS Summits several times per year around the world, to give our members an opportunity to meet face-to-face and exchange technical information and elect officers. Summit announcements and presentations are posted on our web site; summit activities are also financed through member dues and sponsorships.

The IBIS Open Forum is an official subcommittee of the GEIA and conducts its operations according to the GEIA Manual of Organization and Procedure. Copies of this document are available through the GEIA.

If you are interested in joining the IBIS Open Forum, please contact the IBIS Open Forum chair or any of the IBIS Officers.

IBISCHK - The IBIS Golden Parser

The IBIS Open Forum is also responsible for the ibischk4 IBIS Golden Parser. The golden parser is a syntax checking program to aid the development and verification of IBIS data files. Executable, compiled for a variety of operating systems, are available free of charge through the IBIS website.

The Open Forum also makes the source code of the ibischk Golden Parser available through a paid license. Licenses are separate from Open Forum membership; member and non-member companies alike may purchase a parser license at the same cost. The current cost of a parser license in US $ 2500. A parser license entitles the purchaser to receive and use the source code in their own products. A license also entitles the purchaser to both the current parser code and all minor revisions within the same major revision of the specification. For example, current purchasers of the ibischk version 4 parser source code will receive all upgrades to support IBIS 4.2, 4.3 etc. up to but not including the IBIS 5.0 specification.

Parser license fees are used exclusively for development of parser source code upgrades. Parser code development is externally contracted by the Open Forum through an "open bid" process.

The ibischk4 license agreement is available on-line.

The current version of the ibischk is 4.2.2. If you are interested in purchasing a license, please contact the IBIS Open Forum chair or any of the IBIS Officers.

IBIS Interconnect Modeling - ICM and ICMCHK

In addition to the IBIS Specifications, the IBIS Open Forum has recently introduced the IBIS Interconnect Modeling (ICM) Specification, which establishes a standard behavioral means of describing interconnects, such as connectors, cables and printed circuit traces.

An ICM parser, icmchk1, is available. As with IBISCHK4, the source code of icmchk1 is available through a paid license. Licenses are separate from Open Forum membership; member and non-member companies alike may purchase a parser license at the same cost. The current cost of a parser license in US $ 1000. A parser license entitles the purchaser to receive and use the source code in their own products. A license also entitles the purchaser to both the current parser code and all minor revisions within the same major revision of the specification. For example, current purchasers of the icmchk version 1.1.1 parser source code will receive all upgrades to support ICM 1.2, 1.3 etc. up to but not including the ICM 2.0 specification.

The icmchk1 license agreement is available on-line.