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IBIS EDITORIAL TASK GROUP
http://www.eda.org/ibis/interconnect_wip/    
Mailing list: ibis-interconnect@freelists.org  
Archives at http://www.freelists.org/archive/ibis-interconn/  
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Attendees from June 5 Meeting
Cadence Design Systems   		Bradley Brim
Intel Corp.                   		Michael Mirmak*                             
Keysight Technologies      		Radek Biernacki*
Mentor Graphics         		Arpad Muranyi*
Micron Technology     			Justin Butterfield, Randy Wolff*
Signal Integrity Software     		Walter Katz, Mike LaBonte*
Teraspeed Labs              		Bob Ross*

No patents were announced.  Michael Mirmak listed the topics for discussion: inclusion of new BIRDs 
(including Initial Delay updates); any additional editorial changes to the 6.1 draft since the last review.

Bob Ross noted as an open that the specification uses “simulator” in 40 locations and “EDA tool” in 176 
locations in the document.
Michael asked whether there is any context where these are distinct.  Bob suggested not.  Bob and 
Radek Biernacki stated that “EDA tool” used to be “CAE tool” in the early to mid-1990s.  Michael asked 
whether the “EDA” acronym was defined/spelled-out on its first occurrence.  Bob replied that this could 
be the URL www.eda.org.  Radek suggested that the document combine “EDA tool” and “simulator” on 
their first appearance.

Bob noted that BIRD 175.2 has been updated but not yet posted; it should be included in any 6.1 draft 
update.  Mike LaBonte stated that there is an immediate need for support, as PAM-4 models are already 
available in industry.

On BIRD 172.2, Michael noted that there was earlier worry that new BIRDs, related to interconnect, 
would modify 172.2 features.  Bob suggested that some of the parameter definition methods could 
result in ambiguous AMI files/behavior.  Radek added that the concern with 172.2 related to statistical 
parameter treatments, which have been deferred in the draft proposal under consideration by the 
Interconnect Task Group.

Arpad Muranyi suggested that perhaps BIRD 178 also needed inclusion.  Michael and Randy Wolff 
responded that there’s no immediate need for the directionality feature, unlike PAM-4.  Some additional 
technical features may be needed in IBIS to enable bi-directional analysis.

BIRDs 175, 176, and 177 are up for a vote at the June 12 Open Forum meeting; assuming they are 
approved, they should be added to the draft.  Bob noted that PAM-4 inclusion may result in a parser 
cost increase.  Mike suggested that the parser work to support PAM-4 should take a single day of effort.

Michael will update the draft with the three BIRDs, plus the new language related to “simulator” and 
“EDA tool”.