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[802SEC] ISO versions of 802 standards




Having just taken part in the discussion in the closing SEC meeting 
regarding submission of 802.11 standards to ISO, I am minded to make a 
motion at the November Plenary session to make it 802 policy not to submit 
802 standards to ISO in the future. There are a number of reasons, most of 
them rehearsed in this afternoon's discussion, why I believe that having 
ISO versions is a bad idea, including:

- Having two versions of the same standard leads to considerable confusion 
in the marketplace;

- IEEE already has a significant profile as an organization that produces 
standards (under their own brand) that are Internationally recognized, so 
the process is of marginal utility and simply serves to dilute the IEEE brand;

- Keeping the documents "in sync" is problematic at best, and arguably 
impossible;

- The process generates complications and extra work for the Editors and 
the IEEE staff;

- The relevance of ISO as a source of networking standards is highly 
questionable;

- As both ISO and IEEE will end up selling the document, there is the 
potential for loss of IEEE revenue.

I think it is time that we reviewed our position on this issue. I will make 
a motion at the Friday SEC meeting in November, and will remind you of my 
intent to do this at the Monday SEC so that there will be an opportunity 
for feedback on this from the WGs.


Regards,
Tony