IEEE bans peer-reviews from Huawei
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has sent out a mail to its editors that the peer editors from Huawei are not allowed to view or handle any papers. The reason for this decision is the fact that Huawei is on the BIS list. This list, drawn up by the Bureau of Industry and Security, does not allow any exchange of information.
This decision is creating a lot of responses all over the internet. Question like if the institute is a typical US organisation or more international are among the first. Not a bad question of you realize that the Institute has about 420.000 members in 160 countries. Huawei is an important IEEE member with editors and a sponsor of a lot of IEEE activities. The IEEE is afraid ‘severe legal implications’ will be applied if not confirming with the BIS list.
The IEEE.org website (https://www.ieee.org/about/news/index.html) latest news is dated March 26 2019, but feel free to check the news on IEEE regularly.
The ban on Huawei by the Trump administration is leading to the possible balkanisation of the mobile and communications market, essentially forcing China to forge ahead on its own. As the legal implications of the ban fragment the market and R&D communities, the development of 5G and related technologies such SDN could slow down as engineers and researchers split the efforts creating different systems and standards. This is a major risk for 5G as mobile communications has long benefitted from a single handset being able to work across the globe. The complexity of 5G and diverging standards would risk this successful use case.
Another point to consider is that Europe at the moment is sitting in the middle of this argument but could eventually be forced to take sides or go their own way, setting up European standards and possibly a European version of the IEEE. The risk of splitting the world into three major trading areas and communications markets is high if this dispute is allowed to fester too long.
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