Announced earlier this month, the BWIF is sponsored by the IEEE's Industry Standards and Technology Organization (ISTO). Lead by Cisco Systems Inc. and Broadcom Corp., the forum plans to deliver broadband wireless Internet and voice products and services based on Cisco's vector orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing technology. But the IEEE 802 Working Group in La Jolla, Calif. blew a gasket this past week, citing "the cheapening of the IEEE's good name" by ISTO's association with the BWIF.

In a strongly worded position statement, the IEEE 802 group cited a number of grievances, including conflicts of interest, potential marketplace confusion, and the undermining of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group's work in the same fixed-wireless space (PAR 802.16.3). The letter demanded that ISTO disassociate itself from the BWIF before the forum holds its first meeting on July 26.

The letter was a reaction to the wording of an ISTO press announcement, which used the word "standard" 16 times and referred to the IEEE 34 times. While this is fine in and of itself, according to Brian Kiernan, chairman of the 802.16.3 Working Group, "the ISTO announcement made no effort to explain the IEEE/ISTO relationship, and in no way makes it clear that the specification produced by the BWIF is not an IEEE-mandated standard." Kiernan explained that the ISTO is not audited by ANSI, while IEEE standards are subject to ANSI approval. "It may not have come to such a head had the statement not used the word 'standard' so blatantly, " Kiernan said.

The ISTO letter undermines the work conducted over the past few months by Kiernan and the 400 other members of the 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Fixed Wireless Access, Kiernan said.

"The 802.16 members are drawn from over 100 companies, and have been working hard to develop an open standard with input from all sides. That's how the IEEE standards process works, and that's why it has been so successful to date. " said Roger Marks, chairman of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group.

The 802 group's position statement calls for the ISTO to immediately disassociate itself from the BWIF, and to modify the ISTO process to avoid future conflicts with IEEE projects, and to remove IEEE from the title "IEEE-ISTO Industry Standard."