Attached is the text version of the press release based
upon the input from Roger and Carl-Uno. I have had to
shorten both of their submissions but the result is still
almost 3 pages of single spaced text. I am open for
suggestions on how to shorted it even more without losing
content.
I have also placed better formatted versions on the ftp
server as follows:
ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/ipp/press-releases/press4.docftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/ipp/press-releases/press4.pdfftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/ipp/press-releases/press4.txt
I have also left ALL the names in the release with plans
to cut those that have not given approval. As of now, the
following companies will be pulled unless I get approval
to leave them in:
Canon
DataProducts
Dazel
HP
Intel
Kyocera
Netscape
Sharp
Tektronix
BTW: The date and location of the release are just
placeholders.
Have at it!
Don
+++
Press Release Draft
Version 1.04
April 21, 1997
Major Players Unite to Deliver Internet Printing Standard
IETF Creates an Internet Printing Protocol Working Group to
Deliver New Open Standard
Lexington, Ky, April 21, 1997: The Printer Working Group (PWG),
a coalition of printing experts representing many printer and
print server vendors, today announces the formation of the
Internet Printing Protocol working group and its chartering by
the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Currently, there is no standard for Internet print job
submission. Several protocols are in use today, each with
limited applicability and none ubiquitous. In order to meet a
wide variety of customer printing needs printer vendors today
must support a large number of different protocols and protocol
variants. There is a need for a single protocol which can cover
the most common requirements for printing on the Internet and
intranets. These requirements include:
+ finding or locating a printer
+ viewing the status and capabilities of a printer
+ submitting a print job
+ viewing the status of one or more print jobs
+ canceling a print job
"This new working group will define a new industry-standard print
submission and control protocol allowing end users to submit and
control print jobs over the Internet and across enterprise
intranets," said Don Wright, Chair of the Printer Working Group
and Lexmark International's Manager of Strategic Alliances. "We
are fortunate to have all the major printing companies
participating in this effort including Adobe, Canon,
Dataproducts, Dazel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Kyocera,
Lexmark, Microsoft, Netscape, Novell, Osicom/DPI, SDSU/Start
Tech, QMS, Sharp, Sun, Tektronix, Underscore and Xerox."
The Internet Printing Protocol is expected to be a client/server
protocol that allows the server to be either a separate print
server or a printer with embedded networking and server
capabilities. The focus of this effort is optimized for printers,
but it could also be applied to other output devices
History of the IPP Working Group
--------------------------------
Chartered by the PWG, the Internet Printing Protocol working
group was formed in November 1996 and began developing the
necessary standards for print job submission and monitoring for
the Internet based on early submissions by IBM, Novell and Xerox.
After a successful "Birds of a Feather" session at the December
1996 IETF meeting in San Jose, CA, this group was also chartered
by the IETF on March 6, 1997. The PWG earlier developed the
SNMP Printer MIB (RFC1759) and is currently working on a Job
Monitoring MIB; both are IETF projects. Representatives from
Adobe, IBM, Lexmark, Novell, Sun, and Xerox act as chairs,
authors, and editors for the IPP project. Internet drafts
covering requirements, model and semantics, directory schema,
security, and the protocol have been submitted to the IETF and
will continue to be revised and become Request for Comments
(RFCs). The first formal meeting of the IPP working group at an
IETF meeting was held in Memphis, TN on April 8th.
Impact
------
The Internet Printing Protocol is expected to revolutionize
printing in the computer industry. It will provide a single
standard interface for interrogating the capabilities and state
of a printing system, submitting a print job, and monitoring the
state of that print job. Built on existing Internet technologies,
IPP will be quickly deployed to provide easy to use printing
interfaces across a broad range of printing systems and operating
systems which will inter-operate using the protocol.
"Just as there exists a standard protocol for browsing documents
on the World Wide Web, it is critical that key printing industry
players implement a standard protocol for submitting documents
over the Internet to remote printers. With active participation
by major printer, browser, and networking companies, the IPP
Working Group is on a fast track to provide such a solution,"
said Charles LeCompte, President, Lyra Research Inc.
The following examples illustrate some of the capabilities made
possible by widespread deployment of the protocol:
+ A researcher wants to print a technical report, stored on
a public WEB server, on a shared departmental printer.
The researcher locates a suitable printer using a web
browser and then submits the print request to the
printing system by providing the URL of the document.
The document is retrieved and printed by the printing
system which then notifies the researcher.
+ An independent insurance agent wants to print a copy of a
report on a public printer at the home office of one of
the insurance companies that she represents. She selects
print from her application's file menu, and enters the
URL of the home office's public printer. The request is
transmitted to the printing system in the home office and
printed.
Today, printing as described above is often done using fax. IPP
will significantly reduce expenses incurred by faxing documents
by providing a cost-effective and reliable way to print documents
such as invoices, schedules and forms directly to remote
printers, often without long distance telephone charges.
"Computer users will be able to print to printers anywhere within
their organization, independent of locations, and can just as
easily send print jobs to customers, partners etc. without the
need to use e-mail or other distribution methods before documents
are printed,' said Carl-Uno Manros, co-chair of the IPP working
group.
"We are building upon the long, successful experiences of this
group developing printing job submission and management
standards," added Steve Zilles, co-chair of the IPP working group
and Manager of Standards for Adobe.
How to get involved
-------------------
The IPP Working Group is open to any company or individual
interested in developing new standards for Internet printing.
The group meets regularly in person and on telephone conference
calls. More information about the group and specific technical
details are available over the Internet in the following ways:
General Discussion e-mail distribution list: ipp at pwg.org
To Subscribe to the e-mail distribution list: ipp-request at pwg.org
Archive: ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/ipp/
Web-site: http://www.pwg.org/ipp
About the IETF
--------------
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a large
international community of network designers, operators, vendors,
and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet
architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open
to any interested individual. The actual technical work of the
IETF is done in its working groups, which are organized by topic
into several areas (e.g. routing, network management, security,
etc.). Further information about the IETF can be accessed on the
World Wide Web at http://www.ietf.org.
###
Press Inquiries:
PWG Chair: Don Wright, Lexmark International, 606-232-4808
IPP Chairs: Carl-Uno Manros, Xerox Corporation, 310-333-8273
Steve Zilles, Adobe Inc., 408-536-4766,
+++
*************************************************************
* Don Wright (don at lexmark.com) Lexmark International *
* Manager Strategic Alliances *
* 740 New Circle Rd Phone: 606-232-4808 *
* Lexington, KY 40511 Fax: 606-232-6740 *
*************************************************************