A Unified CAD System for Electronic Design

We will describe a CAD system used by AT$#x0026;T Bell Laboratories, AT$#x0026;T Information Systems, and AT$#x0026;T Technologies, Inc. for the design and documentation of electronic packages. It is a highly integrated system designed around a single common data base. Both the system and data base have evolved over a number of years. The system is made up of two major functional subsystems; EDS - the Engineering Design System, a systems for design intent capture, validation and prototype for all packaging levels; IDS - the Interconnection Design System, a physical layout and documentation system for circuit packs and backplanes. In this paper we will take a high level view of the system, looking at the goals for the system and the consequent functional and architectural strategies, the history of its development, its overall architecture and some of the future directions its development might go in. Companion papers will discuss in more detail the functional components of the system plus some specifics of its use.