Registration is the assignment of unambiguous names to objects in a way which makes the assignment available to interested parties.
The IEEE Registration Authority was formed in 1986 to register Organizationally Unique Identifiers (OUI) at the initiative of the P802 (LAN/MAN) standards group. The IEEE is recognized by ISO/IEC as the authorized Registration Authority to provide this service world-wide.
Since that time, the activities of the Registration Authority have continued to expand to include: