IEEE: Let's Start Over by Brad Smith

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has completed its investigation into the political wars being fought in the 802.20 working group and decided the best thing is to fire the committee's leadership, make the member's affiliations more evident and reconsider all past standards votes.

The IEEE Standards Board last June suspended the activities of the 802.20 working group until Oct. 1 because of complaints that the group had become "highly contentious" and was dominated by one faction. The group was working on a mobile broadband standard based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology and gave tentative approval to a draft standard last January. That standard had been proposed by Qualcomm and Kyocera and is viewed by many as a competitor for mobile WiMAX.

Qualcomm complained that Intel and other WiMAX proponents purposely stacked 802.20 meetings so that they could stall the standard. Some Intel employees involved in the working group protested the way the 802.20 standardization balloting was done. An Intel representative also complained that the group chairman, Jerry Upton, was a consultant for Qualcomm.

The IEEE Standards Board announced Tuesday that it will replace all 802.20 officers to eliminate any perception of bias. The working group's activities will remain suspended until new officers take over, which is expected to happen by Nov. 12.

The IEEE also said it will work with the new officers to ensure no one is able to dominate the working group's activities in the future. All ballot and ballot resolution groups that are part of the working group have also been dissolved and will be reconstituted. The IEEE's executive committee will decide when any standards balloting may resume and may base future voting on existing work or on alternative technologies.

Steve Mills, the IEEE Standards Board chairman, says the board wants to ensure that the 802.20 working group operates in accordance with "principles of fairness, openness and due process."

Qualcomm didn't comment on the IEEE's actions.