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RE: stds-802-16: P802.16a Sponsor Ballot Group formation



IEEE 802.16 Participants:

I have received a number of requests by individuals seeking to be 
added to the P802.16a Sponsor Ballot Group, with a variety of 
arguments. I'd like to explain my position.

*The Sponsor Ballot Group is not supposed to duplicate the Working 
Group. It is formed separately and is composed of different people. 
Working Group membership or participation does not in any way entitle 
anyone to participate in the Sponsor Ballot Group, nor is it in any 
way required.

*The Ballot Group process is organized by the IEEE-SA Balloting 
Center. It is not my process or the Working Group's process. However, 
I respect that process and its deadlines. I also do my best to 
educate the Working Group participants of the process. See, for 
example:
	http://ieee802.org/16/ballotpool.html
I discuss the process at each Opening Plenary, and I have emailed 
deadline reminders to the reflector.

*To join the Ballot Group is a two-step process. First, you use a web 
form to join the Working Group's "Ballot Pool". Then, when any 
Working Group draft is to go out for Sponsor Ballot, those in the 
pool are invited to join the "Ballot Group" for that draft, using 
another web form. I suspect that many of those who believe that they 
were mistakenly left out of the Ballot Group are remembering their 
completion of the first step.

*After the close of the invitation response deadline, the Balloting 
Center asks the Sponsor Chair (in this case, IEEE 802 Chair Paul 
Nikolich) to approve the balance of the group. At that time, the 
Sponsor Chair may ask to have additional names added to the list. He 
normally consults with the Working Group chair on this.

*While I have the opportunity to recommend the addition to new names 
to the list at the time the Ballot Group is formed, it is not my 
intent to use my influence to tamper with the Balloting Center's 
process. In the case of P802.16a, I have recommended the addition of 
one Working Group member: Paul Struhsaker. I have recommended him 
because he is 802.16's elected Vice Chair (he was not when the Ballot 
Group invitations went out).

*To my knowledge, the IEEE Balloting Center has completed formation 
of the P802.16a Balloting Group. I have duplicated the group list 
here:
	http://ieee802.org/16/tga/sponsorballot/group.html
I have nothing further to do with the makeup of the list, so please 
do not ask me to change it. If you have questions, you may forward 
them to sa-ballot@ieee.org. Personally, I have seen no reason to 
believe that the Balloting Center has made errors in the formation of 
the group. No one left off the list has shown me any evidence (e.g., 
an acknowledgement email) of their enrollment on it.

*All Working Group members are welcome to participate in the Sponsor 
Ballot by creating and submitting comments. However, those who are 
not members of the Ballot Group will need to submit their comments 
through someone else. If you send them through me, I'll be happy to 
attach your name to them and enter them.

Finally: while we have asked the 802 Executive Committee to approve 
the initiation of the P802.16a Sponsor Ballot on April 12, it is far 
from certain that they will do so. I will try and say more about this 
after I return from vacation on Tuesday.

Regards,

Roger

Dr. Roger B. Marks  <mailto:marks@nist.gov>
Chair, IEEE 802.16 WG on Broadband Wireless Access <http://WirelessMAN.org>
tel: +1 303 497 3037  fax: +1 303 497 7828


>The IEEE-SA invitation to participate in the Sponsor Ballot of 
>P802.16a closed on 22 March. However, only today did I receive the 
>list of those who had accepted the invitation. I have posted the 
>ballot group list:
>
>	http://ieee802.org/16/tga/sponsorballot/group.html
>
>You can check the list to confirm your acceptance of the invitation. 
>Please let me know if you see any errors. Also let me know if your 
>contact information has changed or will be changing.
>
>At the bottom of the posted list is a table of those who were listed 
>as "unvalidated" by the IEEE-SA Balloting Center. Typically, this is 
>because they were not confirmed as members of the IEEE Standards 
>Association. If you are on the "unvalidated" list, you still have 
>time to join the IEEE-SA. If you do so, and I receive from you a 
>valid IEEE membership number by 5 pm U.S. Mountain Time (Colorado 
>time) on Wednesday 3 April, then I will request that your name be 
>validated and added to the ballot group.
>
>Roger