From: Brian Pearce (bpearce_at_cloud9.net)
Date: Sat Apr 24 2004 - 19:50:31 PDT
> That isn't accurate. IEEE is essentially a certification group that
> ratifies electrical standards. Everything they ratify gets the "IEEE"
> stamp on it.
From one of the dusty corners of the web...
What is the IEEE? The IEEE in human (non-acronym) speak is the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. This trade
organization currently has over 350,000 individual members in 150
countries around the world. Their mission is to advance the cause of
engineering in any way they can, including lobbying on behalf of the
membership on issues in which there are technical ramifications and
publishing a variety of materials containing technical content. Much of
this publication is in the form of magazines and books, but they also
define and publish a set of standards that define how a number of
systems and industry best practices should be done. One subset of these
standards is computer networking under the 802 standards, and a further
subset of this defines various flavors of wireless communication as it
pertains to networking. The best known of these are the 802.11
standards regarding wireless LANs, but there are also wireless
networking standards regarding Personal Area Networks (PANs) and fixed
location Wide Area Networks (WANs).
The primary reason that IEEE publishes these standards is to promote
interoperability. They act as a neutral third party that knows enough
about the technology to create a standard that is reliable and capable
of being the basis for the creation of products that are deployable by
customers. The major advantage is that if products from multiple
vendors adhere to an IEEE standard then they will interoperate among
themselves. This promotes the growth of technology in general and acts
as a rising tide lifting all ships.
BRIAN/bpearce_at_cloud9.net
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