Why Should I Join SPEC?

Membership in SPEC is open to any interested company or entity that is willing to commit to SPEC’s standards and is able to provide for the support of the organization.

Membership is group-based. One can be a member of one or more groups depending upon one’s interests. Each group (EG, GWPG, HPG, ISG, OSG, RG) is run independently; each member is responsible for paying the full dues and other responsibilities for each group they join – there are no “bulk discounts”.

SPEC does make an effort to accommodate the participation of academic institutions and other non-profit organizations with reduced (or waived) dues and other arrangements. SPEC has “associates”, which pay little or no dues, but still get full access to the benchmark development process.

The dues go towards offsetting SPEC’s operating costs. Typically these dues are a few thousand dollars per year with a similar initiation fee to cover starting costs; however, the exact values vary from group to group (and potentially year to year) depending upon the specific costs.

Membership allows for full access to existing benchmarks (this included company-wide licenses for current benchmark products) and full participation in ongoing development of new benchmarks. Additionally, members get unlimited result publication through SPEC (as membership dues already cover much of the cost). The benefits for associates are the same as for members except for having voting rights. The intention for associates is that they can act in an advisory capacity to SPEC, getting first-hand experience in an area that is widely neglected in academia but nonetheless very important in the “real world”, and providing technical input to SPEC’s tasks.

All members and associates of each group are welcome at all meetings for that group. Meetings are usually held four to six times a year, with subcommittee teleconferences held on an as-needed basis (often weekly or bi-weekly during benchmark development). Final decisions are usually made by a “steering committee” elected by the membership of the group, with benchmark standards needing ratification by the groups full membership.

For further information about membership in any of SPEC’s groups, contact SPEC at info@spec.org.