History of VHDL

Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Program
- Launched in 1980
- Aggressive effort to advance state of the art
- Object was to achieve significant gains in VLSI technology
- Need for common descriptive language
- $ 17 Million for direct VHDL development
- $ 16 Million for VHDL design tools
Woods Hole Workshop
- Held in June 1981 in Massachusetts
- Discussion of VHSIC goals
- Comprised of members of industry, government, and academia
In July 1983, a team of Intermetrics, IBM and Texas Instruments were awarded a contract to develop VHDL
In August 1985, the final version of the language under government contract was released: VHDL Version 7.2
In December 1987, VHDL became IEEE Standard 1076-1987 and in 1988 an ANSI approved standard
In September 1993, VHDL was restandardized to clarify and enhance the language (IEEE Standard 1076-1993)
VHDL is now undergoing international review to become an IEC standard