API becomes registrar for ISO 9000

Washington, D.C.-The American Petroleum Institute (API) has become an accredited International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 quality system registrar. ISO 9000 is a general term for a series of five related quality management and assurance standards that provide internationally recognized models for operating a quality assurance system.

According to API, its new service, called API Quality Registrar (APIQR), will provide a one-stop shop for companies seeking to obtain registrations for ISO quality systems and for examining existing API quality programs through a single audit.

"Having a quality system in place facilitates a company's ability to produce quality goods and services," said Ronald Jones, API vice president for industry operations. "Being accredited to offer this international registration of quality systems means API will be able to help companies meet the demands of an increasingly competitive global business environment," he added.

The ISO 9000 registrar accreditation program is an extension of API's existing quality licensing portfolio, which includes approving licenses for API's Monogram Program and the Petroleum Test Laboratory Accreditation Program. An API spokeswoman said nearly 1,200 companies worldwide are licensed to use the API monogram on equipment produced for the oil and gas industry. API's Petroleum Test Laboratory Program accredits refinery and commercial laboratories that test petroleum products.

API plans to offer a dual registration option, handling two registrations with a single audit, to companies interested in the ISO 9000 certification and either the monogram or test laboratory accreditation programs.

Companies with quality systems that meet ISO 9000 requirements and pass an on-site audit will be able to display APIQR's registration mark confirming that its quality system meets ISO international standards.

Additional information is available from John Modine, APIQR manager of operations, phone: 202/682-8129; fax: 202/682-8070; e-mail: apiqr@api.org.

High-speed IEEE-488 draws critics as chair urges changes

Palo Alto, Calif-Public opposition by HewlettPackard (HP) and others against revising an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard has drawn a critical reply from the standard working group's chairperson.

In its statement, HP said proposed revisions could threaten the integrity of the IEEE-488 standard, a worldwide communications standard for data transfer.

Joining HP were Keithley Instruments GmbH, Germany; ines, Inc., a research and development firm providing GPIB interface cards; and ACEA, a test and measurement development company in Wierden, The Netherlands.

According to the group, the proposed revisions, known as high-speed 488 (HS-488), constitute a radical change to the function and form of IEEE488 (IEC-625-1 in Europe) and could lead to disruptive errors for the installed customer base.

In response, Robert Canik, chair of the HS488 IEEE working group, issued a statement of his own, labeling HP's action "public lobbying. . . based on what appears to be a nontechnical agenda." He contended that "high speed delivers complete compatibility with the installed base while providing an 800% performance increase in data transfers." Instrument vendors who have already endorsed HS-488 include LeCroy, Anritsu, Adtech, and Nicolet Technologies, Canik said.

The IEEE working group chair contended that "HP's objections have already been resolved in the working group, as the IEEE is the appropriate forum for resolving technical issues. HP's public campaign is based on misleading and inaccurate statements," he said.

"The future of IEEE-488 should not be dictated by the agenda of an individual company. Nor should we abandon IEEE-488 as HP alludes. The users will suffer the greatest," Canik said in his statement.

Ned Barnholt, senior vice president and general manager of HP's test and measurement organization, argued that "the proposed revisions have not been adequately tested on-site, especially for noise immunity and interoperability, and very little documentation of such testing has appeared in the technical media."

Karl Sasgen, business unit manager for Keithley, said, "Our customers like the ease of use, flexibility, and wide range of products to choose from among the existing IEEE-488 bus standards. With the proposed HS-488 protocol, setting up a system becomes more difficult and less flexible and the customer has fewer products to choose from. And, incompatibilities with existing systems are unavoidable. This is too high a price to pay for the marginal overall speed increase of about 10%."

Barnholt said the standard's three-wire handshake provides reliable synchronization of data transmission over the bus in even the harshest and noisiest settings. Of paramount concern to HP and others, he said, is that HS-488 circumvents the IEEE-488 three-wire-handshake protocol and could result in spurious noise, loss of data, and loss of data error detection. HS-488 offers a two-wire-handshake protocol, which HP says has not been shown to be adequately tested in the field, especially in noisy environments.