March 21, 2000
Judith Gorman
Secretary of the IEEE-SA Standards Board
IEEE Standards Association
P. O. Box 1331
445 Hoes LanePiscataway, NJ 08855-1331
Dear Judith Gorman,
I am writing this document in response to a letter you
received from three employees of Agilent Technologies in which
they raise a compaint about the procedures followed with the IEEE
488.1 Project. David Ringle with the IEEE RevCom committee
forwarded a copy of the letter to me. Most of these complaints
are addressed to you and the TC8 sponsor however per David’s
suggestion I am responding to the objections that were directed
toward the actions of the working group. I will address the
issues raised by the Agilent Technologies employees in the order
that they were presented:
I&M TC8 MEETING MINUTES
- This complaint targets the TC8 sponsor. However I can add
that at that time Bob Cram as chair of the TC8 asked me
to bring up this issue in the next working group meeting.
In that meeting the working group discussed the potential
conflict of interest and as the attached meeting minutes
indicate I offered to give up the chairman position if
any of the other working group members wanted to hold the
position. No one else volunteered for the position so the
group decided to allow me to continue as chairman. An
Agilent employee is a member of the working group and was
invited to the meeting however he did not attend. He also
recieved the minutes from the meeting that reflect this
action.
- Again this complaint targets the TC8 sponsor. However I
can add that the working group had continual guidance and
oversight from the sponsor. The complaint gives no
specific examples of not meeting its obligations. As
chairman of the working group I did consult often with
both Bob Cram and Marlyn Minor, both TC8 chairpersons
during the duration of this project, when issues came up
that were not explicitly discussed in the "IEEE
Standards Operations Manual" and the "IEEE
Standards Companion" booklet.
WORKING GROUP MEETING MINUTES
- All members (per the attached meeting minutes) were
encouraged to invite any interested parties to join the
working group. An Agilent Technologies employee is a
member and was notified of all meetings and activities of
the working group.
- Three informal votes were conducted by the working group
through the mail. Upon the completion of the first two
ballots all the comments of the negative balloter were
distributed to all working group members. After the third
ballot, we had a strong majority in favor of approving
the draft. Upon the advice of the TC8 chair, Marlyn
Minor, I turned the draft over to the IEEE Standard
Association to conduct their formal ballot.
- The Project Authorization Request (PAR) proposed
coordination with the IEC/SC65C/W63. The recommended
method for that coordination outlined in the PAR was
through common membership. A member of the working group
was also a member of the IEC/SC65C/W63. Furthermore, at
the request of IEC members, we presented the draft to a
group of IEC members in Germany in September of 1997 and
again they were not interested in working with the IEEE
at that time.
1997 SPONSOR BALLOT RESULT
The IEEE Standard Association initiated this sponsor ballot
therefore this complaint should be addressed by them. I played no
roll in the IEEE official balloting process.
1999 SPONSOR BALLOT
Again this complaint is targetted at the IEEE Standard
Association. I played no roll in selecting the ballot list or
excluding any potential balloter. The 1999 sponsor ballot was
completely coordinated by the IEEE Standard Association.
RESOLUTION OF NEGATIVE BALLOTS
Essentially the same issues discussed in the negative comments
were brought up prior to the sponsor ballot in previous working
group meetings. The sponsor ballot reflected the concensus of the
working group. For the sponsor ballot the IEEE Standards
Association recirculated the full text of all negative balloter
comments to the balloters. All balloters had the opportunity to
change their vote if these issues were not resolved to their
satisfaction.
Throughout this process I have made every attempt to follow
the IEEE Standard Association procedures. I also frequently
consulted with the TC8 sponsors and the IEEE Standards
Association personnel.
Best Regards,
Robert Canik
Chairman of the Working Group for Higher Performance IEEE Std 488.1