The IEEE 802.1™ Working Group This Working Group develops standards and recommended practices for the overall IEEE 802 LAN/MAN architecture; enables internetworking among IEEE 802 LANs and MANs, predominantly in the form of Bridging and VLAN standards; and creates advanced protocol layers.<http://www.ieee802.org/1/>

Revision of IEEE Std 802.1X
IEEE P802.1X-REV, the revision draft for IEEE 802.1X, has been through a Working Group Confirmation Ballot; some further changes to the text will be necessary, and a further draft will be issued for a second confirmation ballot in the November/December timeframe. It is expected that the draft will be issued for Sponsor Ballot early in 2004.

Extension to IEEE 803 VLAN Bridging Technology to Support Service Provision
Work under the PAR, IEEE P802.1ad, "Provider Bridges," seeks to define the technology needed to support IEEE 802 VLAN technology in service provision environments. Draft 2.0 has been circulated; it is expected that a further draft will be circulated in the November/December timeframe for a second Task Group ballot.

Revision of IEEE 802.1D on Media Access Control (MAC) Bridges
P802.1D is currently undergoing a Sponsor recirculation ballot; it is expected that the project will be submitted for Standards Board approval at the March meeting of the Standards Board.

Discovery Protocol
P802.1AB was issued for a Task Group ballot in October; the next draft will be issued for a full Working Group ballot in mid-December.

MAC Security PAR approved
The first Project Authorization Request (PAR) to be generated out of the Link Security task group was approved by the Standards Board in September. This project, P802.1AE, covers the work necessary to define a secure frame format for LAN technologies. It is expected that an initial draft of this project will be issued for Task Group ballot in December.

”Key Agreement” PAR
The second Project Authorization Request (PAR) to be generated out of the Link Security task group was approved for forwarding to the Standards Board. This project, P802.1AF, extends IEEE Std 802.1X (Port-based Network Access Control) to establish security associations for 802.1AE MAC Security, and provide media access method independent association discovery.

P802b completed Sponsor ballot
P802b, which is an extension to Standard 802, the Overview and Architecture standard, to define registration procedures for Object Identifiers, has successfully completed its Sponsor ballot. A small number of editorial changes will be made and the draft recirculated, after which it will be submitted to the Standards Board for final approval.

Connectivity Fault Management PAR
Work has started on the development of a PAR for Connectivity Fault Management. This piece of work has been prompted by the needs of supporting the “Provider Bridging” (P802.1ad) work; however, it is anticipated that the tools developed as part of this project will be of utility in more conventional LAN installations as well.

Upcoming IEEE 802.1 Meetings:
* 12-16 January 2004, Interim Meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
* 15-19 March 2004 -- IEEE Plenary Meeting in Orlando, FL, USA

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