Formal standards organizations are experienced in consensus-based processes. Membership is open to all and everyone gets an equal say. The vast majority of members sincerely want the standard to succeed. Unfortunately, committees are also routinely populated by individuals who want the standard to fail, exacerbating an already slow progress. Formal standards organizations have given us such valuable standards as Verilog, VHDL and SDF. Organizations in this category include Accellera (formerly OVI andVI), IEEE DASC, VSIA and Si2.

Closed proprietary standards, owned by a single company, are typically available only to that company's customers. The owner can evolve the standards quickly and support them well. The closed proprietary approach has produced valuable standards, including LEF and DEF, but this approach has had problems as well. Other vendors are generally not allowed to use them, greatly reducing tool interoperability and forcing customers to create translators. Because the industry at large has a very limited ability to provide input to the owners of closed proprietary standards, only a narrow set of tools can make use of the standards, diminishing their value as a true standard.

Licensing by a standards company (experimented with in 1999) is a way to transfer closed standards into the public domain. A standards company obtains legal rights and funding from the owner and commits to create a standard through licensing. Typically the licensees pays fees and the licenses are available to all comers. The standards company may have limited resources and expertise, and thus may struggle to bring out a standard quickly and provide long term support. The standard is usually evolved by a committee whose membership is made up of paid licensees, elected representatives, and/or appointed contributors.

Open proprietary standards are controlled by a single company, and access is expanded to include the entire community. This model ensures immediate access by everyone to well-established, well-maintained standards. The owner applies significant resources to evolve and support the standard. Through Synopsys' original TAP-in program, for example, vendors have produced a large number of tools around widely-used formats. Beyond EDA, the open proprietary model is also being used in related industries. IBM's CoreConnect program and Motorola's Semiconductor Reuse Standards are excellent examples.

The Open source model is rapidly gaining popularity. Available to everyone, a community of users and developers reviews and enhances the standard with changes managed by a single person or entity. A high quality, well-supported standard emerges quickly. One popular example is Linux, controlled by Linus Torvalds. Some variations restrict commercial usage and others require fees, which can be viewed negatively. Synopsys' open source for TAP-in has no fees or commercial restrictions. Open source is advantageous for existing standards and can benefit from fast evolution.

Community source licensing is similar to open source. A single entity manages the evolution of the standard based on community input. The standard can be used internally for development purposes by community members without fees. When community members are ready to implement commercial tools, they negotiate usage and royalties with the owner. The leading example of this model is Java from Sun Microsystems.

Open community licensing gathers enhancements from a community vested in the success of the standard. A steering group manages the development process, incorporating changes and redistributing them in timely releases, guaranteeing structured innovation. No fees are imposed. The open community standard is accessible to anyone, and is used by a community with a common incentive to improve it. Particularly useful for emerging standards, open community standards are capable of evolving at Internet speed. Open SystemC, initiated by Synopsys, CoWare, and a host of user companies, is the premiere example of open community model.