The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE (pronounced as eye-triple-e) is an international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity. We cover 802.16, 802.16e vs 802.20, 802.20 and mobile broadband.

IEEE's Constitution defines the purposes of the organization as "scientific and educational, directed toward the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences." In pursuing these goals, the IEEE serves as a major publisher of scientific journals and a conferences organizer. It is also a leading developer of industrial standards in a broad range of disciplines, including electric power and energy, biomedical technology and healthcare, information technology, information assurance, telecommunications, consumer electronics, transportation, aerospace, and nanotechnology. IEEE develops and participates in educational activities such as accreditation of electrical engineering programs in institutes of higher learning.

IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed more than 900 active industry standards. It also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 international technical conferences each year. The IEEE consists of 37 societies, organized around specialized technical fields, with more than 300 local organizations that hold regular meetings. The IEEE publishes an extensive range of peer-reviewed journals, and is a major international standards body (nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development).

Most IEEE members are electrical engineers, computer engineers, and computer scientists, but the organization's wide scope of interests has attracted engineers in other disciplines (e.g., mechanical and civil,) as well as biologists, physicists, and mathematicians.

The IEEE is incorporated in the State of New York, United States. It was formed in 1963 by the merger of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE, founded 1912) and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, founded 1884). It has a dual complementary regional and technical structure - with organizational units based on geography and technical focus. It manages a separate organizational unit (IEEE-USA) which recommends policies and implements programs specifically intended to benefit the members, the profession and the public in the United States.

The Standards Association is in charge of the standardization activities of the IEEE. There are seven steps to its standard setting process, which typically takes 18 months to complete: 1. Securing Sponsorship 2. Requesting Project Authorization 3. Assembling a Working Group 4. Drafting the Standard 5. Balloting (75% approval required) 6. Review Committee 7. Final Vote.

Notable Presidents of IEEE and its founding organizations include Elihu Thomson (AIEE, 1889-1890), Alexander Graham Bell (AIEE, 1891-1892), Charles Proteus Steinmetz (AIEE, 1901-1902), Lee De Forest (IRE, 1930), Frederick E. Terman (IRE, 1941), William R. Hewlett (IRE, 1954), Ernst Weber (IRE, 1959; IEEE, 1963), and Ivan Getting (1978).

The current (2005) president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is W. Cleon Anderson. The current president of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers USA is Gerard A. Alphonse.