The vision of WikiComponents is to significantly improve the way electronic products are designed and built.
This is accomplished by developing a WEB 2.0 community site dedicated to the creation and sharing of component
data. “Wiki” is part of our name because we are truly a community-based portal where the users create, share,
approve and police the data contained in the site by using the easy to use and innovative tools we provide.
The need for accurate component data has become a critical requirement in most all electronic design and
manufacturing environments. Without component data, it is not possible to create a complete model of the
electronic assembly. And without such a model, many potential areas of failure are often either ignored,
overlooked or simply impossible to find until physical assemblies are created.
Component data is typically classified as “Precompetitive Knowledge Commons” which is a fancy way of saying
that they are basic building blocks from which all electronic products are built. With this in mind and
keeping in the spirit of Open Source, WikiComponents enforces the following key provisions upon the data we
house:
- Nobody Owns It
- Anybody Improves It
- Everyone Uses It
A common complaint from companies who design or manufacture electronics is the inordinate amount of time and
resources they dedicate to creating, maintaining and modifying company-specific design and manufacturing
libraries, or the high cost associated with closed-source third party providers due to their high up-front fees
or impractical pay-to-use schemes. To make matters worse, the libraries offered through third party providers
are generally 2D or at best 2.5D. The need however, is increasingly for 3D.
In short, our world has become open, our work force has become global and our design tools are moving to 3D.
But our solutions for component data have remained proprietary, local and flat. This is what WikiComponents
has set out to change.
WikiComponents is built upon the concept of “Peer Production”. Imagine if one thousand people need a specific
component. In today’s environment each of those people are likely to create the very same component. By
utilizing WikiComponents only one person would need to create the component and a thousand people could use it.
Because of WikiComponents the community has truly benefited a thousand times over. Obviously, with thousands of
people all providing a small portion of the work, the benefit to the community grows exponentially.
As an independent source of component data, WikiComponents ensures the investment members make in creating content
will be available for use by anybody, for all of their current and future needs with no restrictions on the
intended use. Members have the right to warehouse downloaded data within their own environment for whatever use
they deem appropriate with no royalties, copyrights or licensing due to WikiComponents so long as the data is not
used to provide a competitive commercial solution.
WikiComponents will work closely with standards committees like IPC, JEDEC and FED to utilize the great work that
they have done over the years in giving some semblance of order to an otherwise chaotic industry.
For more information,
click here to view a presentation about
WikiComponents or
contact us with any questions or comments.