P802-95/40
OVERVIEW & GUIDE TO IEEE 802 / LMSC
November 1995

DISCLAIMER:  This guide assembles in one place some info to make life easier for the many people attending the LAN /MAN Standards Committee (LMSC) meeting for the first time (and also for habitual attendees).  I have drawn on the work of other folks in the committee and acknowledge their contribution to this guide.  Any errors in this document are my responsibility - please read it and let me know if you find some!  I encourage feedback to help improve future versions - you can leave comments for me at the registration office during the meeting or email them to the address below.
	Kelly McClellan		802.0 Recording Secretary	mac@west.smc.com

INTRODUCTION:

LMSC (or IEEE Project 802) develops LAN and MAN standards, mainly for the lowest 2 layers of the Reference Model for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI).  LMSC coordinates with other national and international standards groups, with some standards initiated here now published by ISO as international standards.  There is strong international participation here, and a number of interim meetings are held overseas.

With work ongoing on a number of standards, the overall picture can be confusing at first.  The material handed out at registration, and the overview of meetings and organization in this guide, will help make some sense of the many parallel activities.  At the plenary meeting week, be sure to attend the opening plenary session on Monday at 1pm.  The group chairs and others give a status report for their areas and tell what will be happening during the rest of the meeting.  Arrive early for the best seats - with 400 or so plenary attendees, the room can fill up fast!

Shortly after the opening plenary, subgroup meetings start and then continue each day through Thursday, with a closing plenary session for the whole committee on Friday morning.  You'll find a wide variety in attendance and topics in the subgroup meetings - for instance, in the early stages of a standard there's more technical presentation and less editorial work.  After the plenary week, work continues over the four months until the next plenary meeting: most subgroups hold interim meetings and continue discussions and document editing by email.  The personal contacts you can make during the week will be very helpful, so take time to meet people as well as study the documents.

CONTENTS:

o  PLENARY MEETINGS  (registration, schedule, how to find the right room)
o  HISTORY  (how did we get here?)
o  ORGANIZATION  (who does what, WGs / SGs / TAGs, IEEE Standards Office)
o  STANDARDS PROCESS  (inception, liaison, consensus, ballots, & publication[finally!])
o  DOCUMENTS  (drafts, email, standards, and how to get them)

PLENARY MEETINGS:

In March, July, and November of each year, all the subgroups of LMSC meet together at one location.  These plenary meetings are scheduled 1-2 years ahead and are attended by about 400 people.  The next three meetings are scheduled for:  3/11-15/96 in La Jolla, CA; 7/8-12/96 in Enschede, Netherlands; and 11/11-15/96 in Vancouver, British Columbia.  For mtg/hotel info:  Classic Consulting, Inc. 604-527-1045, 72630.107@compuserve.com

A registration fee is collected for each person, and helps cover the cost of the meeting (document copies, refreshments, and Wednesday social) as well as paying for international standards support.  The registration office is open 5-8pm Sunday and from 8am Monday for registrations and information.  When you register you'll be given a packet (read it carefully!) including the room schedule for the week and a list of documents and standards that can be ordered.  Pregistration by credit card is offered to help reduce any wait for registration at the meeting.

The overall schedule for the plenary meeting week is as follows:
SUN.:	all day: some WG's (really 'interim' meetings)				5-8pm: registration
MON.:	8am-12n:  SEC, some WG's	1-3pm: opening plenary session	3-5pm WG's	6:30-9:30pm: tutorials
	8am-5pm: registration (office also open Tuesday - Thursday  >>> preregister and avoid a wait<<<)
TUE.:	8am-12n WG's			1-5pm: WG's 	             			6:30-9:30pm: tutorials
WED.:	8am-12n WG's			1-5pm: WG's 	             			6:30-9:30pm: social
THU.:	8am-12n WG's			1-5pm: WG's 	             			7pm-midnight: SEC
FRI.:	8am-10am:  closing plenary session

The evening tutorials on Monday and Tuesday are often used to publicize work on a potential new standard - the topics are listed in the material handed out at registration.  The Wednesday evening social is an opportunity to talk with people in other groups, as well as being known for free hor d'ouvres!  The real work of the plenary meeting happens in the individual group meetings, with some WGs split into several subgroups during part of the week.  It is not possible to see what's happening in all groups - best to concentrate on one or two.  Since the detailed schedules for each group may change during the week, check the bulletin board at the registration office for the latest room assignments & meetings.

HISTORY:

The first meeting of the IEEE Computer Society "Local Network Standards Committee", Project 802, was held in February of 1980.  There was going to be one LAN standard, with speeds from 1 to 20 MHz.  It was divided into media or Physical layer (PHY), Media Access Control (MAC), and Higher Level Interface (HILI).  The access method was similar to that for Ethernet, as well as the bus topology.  By the end of  1980, a token access method was added, and a year later there were three MACs: CSMA/CD, Token Bus, and Token Ring.

In the years since, other MAC and PHY groups have been added, and one for LAN security as well.  The unifying theme has been a common upper interface to the Logical Link Control (LLC) sublayer, common data framing elements, and some commonality in media interface.  The scope of work has grown to include Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) and higher data rates have been added (through 100Mbps).  A recent organizational change gave us the "LMSC" name and more involvement in the standards sponsorship and approval process.

ORGANIZATION:

LMSC is organized in a number of Working Groups (WGs) and Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) as well as a Sponsor Executive Committee (SEC).  Here's a list of them with the respective Chairs:

802.0	SEC 
Donald C. Loughry, LMSC Chair	Email: loughry@cup.hp.com

802.1	High Level Interface (HILI) Working Group
William P. Lidinsky	Email lidinsky@hep.net

802.2	Logical Link Control (LLC) Working Group
David E. Carlson	FAX (908) 949-1196

802.3	CSMA/CD Working Group
Geoffrey O. Thompson	Email thompson@baynetworks.com

802.4	Token Bus Working Group	[in 'hibernation' at this time, but working on a supplement]
Paul Eastman		Email p.eastman@computer.org

802.5	Token Ring Working Group
Jim Carlo  	Email i802@msg.ti.com

802.6	Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) WG  [due to 'hibernate' soon]
James F. Mollenauer	Email JMOLLENAUER@mcimail.com

802.7	BroadBand Technical Adv. Group (BBTAG)  [work complete, in 'hibernation']

802.8	Fiber Optics Technical Adv. Group (FOTAG)
J. Paul 'Chip' Benson, Jr.	Email jpb@akguc.att.com

802.9	Integrated Services LAN (ISLAN) Working Group
Dhadesugoor R. Vaman		Email dvaman@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu

802.10	Standard for Interoperable LAN Security (SILS) Working Group 
Kenneth G. Alonge	Email alonge_ken@po.gis.prc.com

801.11	Wireless LAN (WLAN) Working Group
Vic Hayes		Email Vic.hayes@utrecht.attgis.com

802.12	Demand Priority Working Group
Pat Thaler		Email pat@hprnd.rose.hp.com

802.14  Cable-TV Based Broadband Communication Network Working Group
John Eng		Email eng@took.enet.dec.com

The SEC (or Executive Committee) is made up of all WG or TAG Chairs, the LMSC Chair, the SEC Vice Chair (John Montague), Executive Secretary (Buzz Rigsbee), Recording Secretary (Kelly McClellan), Treasurer (Kirk Preiss), and SC6 Ombudsman (Bob Donnan).

Each project approved within an existing group is assigned a letter, for example 802.10c for Key Management in the LAN Security WG.  A Study Group (SG) is formed when a new area is first investigated for standardization.  The SG can be within an existing WG or TAG, or it can be independent of the WGs.  A new project in an existing group is developed by a Task Force, while a new independent project creates a new WG.

Membership in LMSC is by WG/TAG, with voting rights after attending two of the last four meetings.  The interim meetings of a WG/TAG may be counted under some circumstances.  Attendance means going to at least 75% of the 1/2 day meetings of the WG/TAG during the week, and is tracked by signup sheets.  Credit is given for attendance at only one group per plenary meeting.  The LMSC Operating Rules cover this in more detail along with many other topics.  An Operating Rules Review Group (ORRG) in LMSC defined a revision of the rules; in July '95 the changes were adopted.

The working style of each WG/TAG depends on the number of members and the subject at hand, with some topics decided informally while others are subject to letter ballots.  The Chair of each group is given latitude to set the procedure for the group.  In all cases, approval of a draft standard by the WG/TAG requires a letter ballot and an effort to resolve any 'No' vote.  

In addition to the volunteer members of LMSC, there is a professional staff at the IEEE Standards office that supports our work and gets standards published.  The IEEE Standards Board and Standards Staff are responsible for a wide range of standards activities beyond the LAN/MAN standards in LMSC.  The IEEE Standards office can be contacted at (908) 562-3800.

LMSC also relies on a meeting management firm (Classic Consulting Int'l, (604) 527-1045  fax: 527-1046) to administer the arrangements for each meeting, including registration.  They can be contacted for hotel and transportation information and meeting preregistration.

STANDARDS PROCESS:

Each standard (or recommended practice, or guide) starts as a group of people with an interest in developing the standard.  A Project Authorization Request (PAR) is normally submitted for approval within 6 months of the start of work.  In LMSC, new projects require supporting material in the form of '5 criteria' to show that they meet the charter of LMSC.  The draft PAR is voted on by the SEC, and then goes to the IEEE Standards Board New Standards Committee (NesCom) for approval as an official IEEE Standards project.  Part of the PAR identifies which outside standards groups there will be liaisons with, for instance ETSI in Europe.  The liaisons help avoid conflicts or duplication of effort in one area.

Proposals are evaluated by the WG, and a draft standard is written and voted on the by the WG.  The work progresses from technical to editorial / procedural as the draft matures.  When the WG reaches enough consensus on the draft standard, a WG Letter Ballot is done to release it from the WG.  It is next approved by the SEC and then goes for Sponsor Letter Ballot.  In the past, the sponsor group was the Technical Committee on Computer Communication, so the sponsor ballot is still referred to sometimes as a TCCC ballot, even though LMSC now is a sponsor and conducts its own Sponsor Letter Ballots.

After the Sponsor Letter Ballot has passed and 'No' votes are answered, the draft Standard is sent for approval by the IEEE Standards Board Standards Review Committee (RevCom).  Once approved by RevCom, it can be published as an IEEE standard.  Most draft standards in LMSC are also sent to ISO at or before the time they go to Sponsor Letter Ballot.  A parallel approval path is followed in ISO JTC1/SC6 (Joint Technical Committee 1, Subcommittee 6 - responsible for LANs) that leads to publication as an ISO standard.  The process from start to finish can take several years for new standards, and less for revisions or addenda.

DOCUMENTS:

The main work in LMSC sometimes appears to be generating paper, and it's certainly true that we go through a lot of paper to develop a standard.  In the early stages, a WG will have a number of proposals and drafts, and these will be copied to the WG for their work.  You can get copies of other WG's documents in two ways:  subscription or individual document orders.  The subscription service provides most of the WG documents on a regular basis, while document orders are better if you want only a few of the documents (like the latest draft standard).  Both are available through AlphaGraphics in Phoenix, AZ, Phone: (602) 863-0999.

To reduce paper use and speed the process, the WGs use email and ftp distribution for proposals, discussions, minutes, and drafts to varying extents.  Check with the WG chair for whether this is available and how to use it.

Once a standard has been published, you may order it from IEEE Document Sales, (800) 678-4333.