[2] The pre-history of SISO starts with SIMNET, a DARPA program from 1983 through 1991 that demonstrated the feasibility of networking substantial numbers of (relatively) low-cost simulators on a "virtual battlefield."
In order to ensure that multiple teams of contractors would be able to bid on various components of this program, the Army Program Manager for Training Devices (PM TRADE), soon to be renamed as the Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM - now PEO STRI), in conjunction with DARPA and the newly established Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO now Modeling and Simulation Coordination Office (MSCO)), initiated a series of workshops at which user agencies and interested contractors could work together to develop standards based on the SIMNET protocols.
The "First Conference on Standards for the Interoperability of Defense Simulations" was held on 22–23 August 1989 in Orlando, Florida.
In 2003, the IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board (SAB) granted the SISO Standards Activities Committee (SAC) status as a recognized IEEE Sponsor Committee.
In addition, SISO is a Category C Liaison Organization with ISO/IEC JTC 1 for the development of standards for the representation and interchange of data regarding Synthetic Environment Data Representation and Interchange Specification (SEDRIS).