PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA, 19 September 2006
The IEEE Standards Association Standards Board (SASB)
today announced its plan to enable the IEEE 802.20
Working Group to move forward with its work to develop
a mobile broadband wireless access standard and provide
the best opportunity for its completion and approval.
The plan calls for the working group's reorganization
including the appointment of new officers as well
as new balloting and balloting resolution committees.
It also clarifies and tightens requirements for disclosure
of affiliations. The decision is the outcome of an
investigation by the SASB into appeals and other concerns
that had led to the temporary suspension of the working
group's activities.
The June suspension stemmed from an ongoing investigation
into concerns that the working group had become highly
contentious, appeared to lack transparency and showed
evidence of possible "dominance" and other
potential irregularities. After considering input
from IEEE 802.20 working group participants and a
cross section of other interested parties, the SASB
concluded that certain steps were required to safeguard
the standards development process and ensure that
consensus on an IEEE 802.20 standard can be reached
and that the standard can receive IEEE approval.
Among the actions approved by the SASB on 15 September
are the following:
All of the IEEE 802.20 officers will be replaced
in an effort to provide clearly neutral leadership
and to eliminate perceptions of possible bias. The
working group will remain suspended until at least
a chair is approved by the SASB, which the SASB
anticipates will take place on or before 12 November.
Members of the IEEE 802 Executive Committee (EC)
will work with the new officers to identify and
address any efforts to dominate the IEEE 802.20
working group and to submit a plan to ensure dominance
does not occur.
All ballot and ballot resolution groups will be
dissolved and reconstituted. The IEEE EC chair will
determine when any balloting may begin. The plan
preserves the right of the working group to move
forward with the existing work product or consider
alternative technology.
IEEE 802.20 working group participants will be
required to disclose their true affiliations at
each meeting. They must identify any person or organization
that, directly or indirectly, has requested, paid
for or otherwise sponsored his/her participation.
"The measures the Standards Board announced
today are carefully designed to address the IEEE Standard
Association's commitment to principles of fairness,
openness and due process in standards development,"
said Steve Mills, IEEE-SA Standards Board Chair.
"The vast majority of participants in IEEE-SA
standards activities have always acted in the good-faith
and cooperative spirit that has resulted in high quality
and broad adoption of IEEE standards, including the
802® family of standards," Mills said. "The
IEEE-SA Standards Board expects that the combination
of greater transparency and reorganization of leadership
and balloting groups will foster that spirit in 802.20
and will result in a high-quality 802.20 standard
developed through a fair and open process."
About the IEEE Standards Association
The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized
standards-setting body, develops consensus standards
through an open process that brings diverse parts
of an industry together. These standards set specifications
and procedures based on current scientific consensus.
The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of more than 870 completed
standards and more than 400 standards in development.
For information on IEEE-SA see: http://standards.ieee.org/.
About the IEEE IEEE
is the world's largest technical professional society.
Through its 365,000 members in 150 countries, the
society is a leading authority on a wide variety of
areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and
telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric
power and consumer electronics. Dedicated to the advancement
of technology, the IEEE publishes 30 percent of the
world's literature in the electrical and electronics
engineering and computer science fields, and has developed
nearly 900 active industry standards. The organization
also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 international
technical conferences each year.
