The objective of VHDL International was to extend and promote VHDL and to create other extensions to the language in cooperation with the IEEE. In addition, it had the objective to make the VHDL Initiative Toward ASIC Libraries (VITAL) a reality by educating semiconductor suppliers and designers on how to develop VITAL libraries. It merged with Open Verilog International (OVI) in 2000 to become Accellera.
VHDL was an offshoot of the VHSIC (Very High-Speed IC) program, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and was first proposed in 1981. In March of 1986, the IEEE took on the effort of standardizing VHDL within the VHDL Analysis and Standardization Group (VASG). It became an IEEE standard in 1987 – IEEE 1076.
