Meeting Minutes

Higher Speed Extension to IEEE 488.1 Working Group
Atlanta, Georgia
9 August 1995

Attending:
Don Bryan, University of Missouri
Robert Canik, National Instruments
Bob Cram, Tektronix
Greg Cruzan, Racal Instruments
Steve Greer, Hewlett Packard
Paul Skar, Capital Equipment Corp.
Allen Tracht, IOtech
Ron Wolfe, National Instruments

The meeting started at 9:00 AM with all attendees present. Introductions were made around the room. Each participant also stated their interest level and concerns about a possible higher speed extension to the IEEE 488.1 standard. Robert Canik presented a few slides (atteched) that outlined the agenda, history of previous work, and the scope of the project under the PAR.

A concern was raised about the language of the patent statements in the PAR. The current wording will allow National Instruments to license their patent on HS488 only if the working group adopts HS488. Also CEC made no promises concerning their pending patent on 488SD, thus they could do the same thing. Both NI and CEC representatives stated that neither of them would use their patents to impede the working group. Based on these statements, everyone seemed content to continue working under the assumption that if the results infringed in any way on a patent, the party holding the patent would grant a license to the patent on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

A concern was also raised about the working group being chaired by one of the parties presenting a proposal. This gave the impression of a conflict of interest. All agreed it would be better to find a neutral chairperson. No one volunteered for the position, however, some of the attendees are considering the position. Therefore, the working group is open to any volunteers for the chairperson position. Unless a volunteer comes forward at or before the next meeting, Robert Canik will continue as chairman.

Next, we had a general discussion of the concerns about modifying the IEEE 488 standard. Most concerns centered around the possibility that any changes to the specification could affect the good reputation the IEEE 488 bus has for robustness. It was generally agreed that our priorities should be:

1) to avoid breaking anything or making the bus less robust

2) to make the transfer rate of the bus faster.

We then discussed how to proceed, since we have two competing standards. The path of least resistance and risk is to adopt one of the existing protocols which has already been developed and proven. This will not be satisfactory to the vendor whose protocol was not chosen and will give an unfair advantage to the vendor whose protocol is selected. A concern was brought up that if we change either protocol too much, it would require additional prototyping and testing. This increased amount of work may be enough resistance to cause us to lose interest in the new protocol. It was generally agreed to review both protocols and any newly proposed protocols. We can, then, select the best features from each.

A concern was raised as to who was invited to join the working group and if there was anyone left off the invitation list that may be interested. A few companies were mentioned that should have been invited. It was decided to attach the invitation letter to the minutes of the meeting so that if any member of the group knows of someone who may be interested, they can forward the letter to them. Also, a list of people in the working group will be attached to the minutes. In an effort to get the word out about the working group, a press release will be generated by Bob Cram. It will be circulated to the working group members for approval, then sent to the editors of appropriate trade journals. Robert Canik will also investigate putting the proposed extensions and any future specifications on the IEEE bulletin boards to make them more accessible.

It was generally agreed that we allow other companies to submit proposals to the working group for consideration. Therefore, the working group will entertain other proposed specification extensions. If anyone is interested in submitting another proposal, please notify Robert Canik of your intent to do so by Sept. 29, 1995. The target completion of the new specification must be by the end of the year for it to receive consideration.

Future meetings are planned to rotate between Austin, TX (hosted by NI), Cleveland, OH (hosted by IOtech), and Boston, MA (hosted by CEC) with the first meeting being held in Austin. If no other proposals are reported by Sept. 29th, the next meeting will be in early December to review the NI proposal (already distributed) and CEC's proposal (which will be distributed to the working group members by CEC). If another proposal is reported by Sept. 29th, the next meeting will be in late January 1996 to give time for the development and review of the other proposal.

The meeting ended at 11:40 AM.