Entity Balloting in the IEEE
Standards Association
IEEE 802 Plenary
Judy Gorman, Managing Director,
IEEE Standards Association
15 November 2004
San Antonio, TX
Contents

Overview of the IEEE-SA Corporate
Program


Definitions of participant types





“Entity” is the term on the books
IEEE and INCITS comparison
Entity Balloting: Pros and Cons
Issues Straining the Individual Method
Proposed Next Steps
Q&A
110+ Years of Stability and
Evolution
1890 Established the Henry - a practical unit of inductance

1898 First dedicated effort toward standardization of
electrotechnology in US

1912 Institute of Radio Engineers formed its first standards
committee

1958 Joint Standards Committee of AIEE and IRE

1963 Merger of AIEE and the IRE

1973 Establishment of the IEEE Standards Board
 1998 IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA)
Individual and corporate membership
 1999 IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization
(IEEE-ISTO)
Established an affiliated 501(c)(6) organization
 2004 IEEE-SA Corporate Program

Overview of the
IEEE-SA Corporate Program
IEEE Standards Association
MEMBERS
Board of
Directors
Publication
Activities
IEEE-USA
Educational
Activities
Regional
Activities
Executive
Committee
Standards
Association
Exec Director
& Staff
Technical
Activities
Members
IEEE-SA Board of Governors
Legal & fiduciary, policy, finance, N&A,
Registration Authority,
appeals, awards, etc
Standards
Board (SASB)
Directs Standards Process /
Sponsor
Corporate Advisory
Group (CAG)
Corporate Program Strategy/
Sponsor
Sponsors
Societies, Standards
Coordinating Committees, CAG,
Standards Board, etc.
IEEE-SA Corporate Program

A membership category in IEEE-SA for







Gives organizations



Corporations
Government agencies
Academia
Consultants
Industry groups
Organizations
A defined voice within the IEEE-SA
A corporate-driven standards development process
Corporate membership since 1998


Program inception 2000
Organizationally active 2004
IEEE-SA Corporate Program
Membership


50 corporate members in 10 countries
Sectors/categories








Electronic design automation
Battery and PC manufacturers
Networking solution providers
Power suppliers
Industry applications
Telecommunications
Trade associations
Research laboratory
IEEE-SA CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP
Maryland
Procurement Office
ROTANI
IEEE-SA CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP
Corporate Advisory Group
Members*








Chuck Adams, Chair
Steve Mills, Vice Chair
George Arnold
Chuck Powers
Robert Fish
Peter Linnert
Phil Wennblom
James Williamson
IBM
Hewlett-Packard
Lucent Technologies
Motorola
Panasonic
Siemens
Intel
Sony Electronics
*Maximum 10
IEEE-SA 2004 Corporate Member Fee
Structure

Member

Corporate






Less than $1M Revenue
Less than $1B Revenue
Greater than $1B Revenue
Government Agency
Other (Trade Assoc, SDO, Academic)
Non-Member per ballot fee

20% premium to membership fee
$1000
$3000
$5000
$5000
$1000
Prognosis for Corporate Program

Overall - excellent




Partnership built between corporate members and IEEE
Program strategy under development
Exceeded 04 goal of acquiring one new project 8X
In the case of 802, some
 Are willing to propose changes to their P & P
 See some instances in which the individual method isn’t
working / is broken / etc.
 Recognize the value corporate method offers for
bringing in new work
Definitions of Participant Types
as per
IEEE-SASB Operations Manual
& RD 2 of INCITS*
*Rules Document 2 / InterNational Committee for Information
Technology Standards
“Individual”
SOURCE: dictionary.reference.com
Noun
A single human considered apart from a society or
community….
A human regarded as a unique personality….
A person distinguished from others by a special quality.
Usage Problem. A person.
Source: ANSI
Nothing
Source: IEEE-SA
Defines everything that is not an individual, e.g., partnership,
corporation, government agency, etc.
Corporation/Large & Small Businesses
IEEE
INCITS
An entity that has a
controlling body, such
as a Board of
Directors, that does
not report to another
controlling body.
There shall be only
one voting
membership for
each separate
business entity. A
separate entity is
defined as having a
controlling body,
such as a Board of
Directors, that does
not report to
another controlling
body.
Government Agency or
Subdivision/Government
IEEE
INCITS
An entity that reports to
its parent or
executive, legislative,
or judicial branch of a
government
There shall be only one
voting membership for
separate government
subdivision or agency.
Separate government
subdivision or agency is
defined as an entity that
reports to its parent
executive, legislative, or
judicial branch of
government
Partnership or Association
IEEE
INCITS
An entity comprised
of two or more
principal members. In
order to be a voting
member in a particular
Sponsor ballot, each
partnership or
association shall
declare that it does not
represent the interests
of another member of
the IEEE-SA of any
type participating in
that Sponsor ballot
No comparable
category/term/
definition
Consultant(s)
IEEE
INCITS
An entity whose principal A consultant organization is
source of revenue is
defined as an organization
derived from providing
whose principal source of
consulting services for
revenue is derived from
other institutions. In
providing services for other
order to be a voting
organizations. There shall be
member in a particular
only one voting membership
Sponsor ballot, each
for each separate consultant
consultant shall declare organization. In order to be in
that it does not
the voting member category,
represent the interests
consultant organizations shall
of another person of
have to declare that their
any type participating
participation is not being
in that Sponsor ballot.
funded by any organization
already having voting
membership or an organization
that is not eligible for
membership.
Academic Institution/Academia
IEEE
INCITS
An educational entity
that has a
controlling body,
such as a Board of
Regents or a Board
of Governors
There shall be only one
voting membership for
each separate
education institution. A
separate educational
institution is defined as
an entity that has a
controlling body, such
as a Board of Regents.
Consortia, Vendor-Specific User
Groups, Professional Societies, &
Other SDOs / User Groups & Consortia
IEEE
INCITS
The principal and
alternate
representative for
these types of
entities may be
employed by other
entities that have
voting membership
in the balloting
group
There shall be only one
voting membership for
each separate SDO, User
Group and Consortium.
For these entities, their
principal and alternate
representatives may be
employed by other
organizations who have
voting memberships
Other
IEEE
INCITS
Other institutional
persons as
approved by the
IEEE-SA Standards
Board
No comparable
category/term/
definition
Entity Balloting: Pros and Cons
PROS








Better business investment
for companies
Equalizing effect on the
playing field
Increases transparency
Eliminates many questions
about affiliation
Continues to allow
consortia to leverage
strength
Consultant perspective:
equal vote to large
company
Reduces not-for-profit tax
status liability for IEEE
Increase value to industry
of IEEE 802 work program
CONS





Doesn’t necessarily solve
the problem of logjams
Doesn’t allow large
companies to leverage
strength
Continues to allow
consortia to leverage
strength
Large company
perspective: consultant
has equal vote
Challenges the existing
culture of IEEE 802
Issues Straining the Individual Method

Pressure and Evolving Need to Declare Affiliation

Consultants




Others


Business relationships exist behind the scenes that
influence voting patterns
Weighted Voting


Individual method is best bet
Real system very cumbersome



Cannot always declare
Don’t always have a specific client
Feel discriminated against
ETSI system
Other IEEE groups have considered/rejected idea
Protecting the IEEE Brand

IEEE and IEEE 802 both have much to gain and lose
Proposed Next Steps

September 04 - IEEE 802 Task Force




David Law and Brad Booth to work with IEEE-SA staff on
proposed P&P changes that incorporate “Entity”
method
Newly approved model entity procedures sent to DL and
BB in October
802 Executive Committee to Approve
Who’s going to be first?
Thank you!
Don Wright, Moderator
Panelists:
Judy Gorman
Karen Kenney
Steve Mills
Paul Nikolich