Microsoft Contributes Web Services Protocol to Broaden Interoperability
Posted on May 29, 2008
Filed Under Microsoft
REDMOND, Wash., May 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — As part of its
customer-focused commitment to interoperability, Microsoft Corp. today
announced that it has contributed its Web services protocol specification
for consumer scanning peripherals — Microsoft Scan Service Definition
Version 1.0 (WS-Scan) — to the Printer Working Group (PWG), a program of
the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (ISTO). The
contribution of the WS-Scan protocol specification will make it easier for
partner companies to make their products interoperable across multiple
platforms and deliver new functionality and manageability improvements to
customers.
WS-Scan provides a common framework for describing and sharing
information between Windows Vista and consumer scanning peripherals. As
part of its continuing efforts to work with partners to provide innovative
Windows-based solutions and the best set of experiences to meet customers’
specific needs, Microsoft built upon the initial efforts of Xerox Corp. and
collaborated with several leading companies in the printing ecosystem to
develop the WS-Scan protocol specification. As a result of submitting this
specification to the PWG, these solutions will now be available to any
platform that companies need to meet their customers’ interoperability
requirements.
“This collaboration is a response to customer and industry interest in
having the WS-Scan Service Schema mapped directly to the PWG Scan semantic
model,” said Jack Mayo, group program manager with the Windows Experience
team at Microsoft. “The benefit to customers will be making great scanning
solutions for Windows-based interoperable with other platforms. The ability
to make interoperable solutions will also greatly reduce the development
burden on the PWG partner companies.”
“Xerox has a long history of developing innovative technologies that
help our customers do great work in new and exciting ways,” said Richard
Dastin, senior vice president and general manager in the Xerox Office
Group. “Working with Microsoft to promote interoperability is a great
demonstration of that continued commitment, and we look forward to future
collaborations for the benefit of our customers.”
Member organizations of the PWG include printer and multifunction
device manufacturers, print server developers, operating system providers,
projector manufacturers, and print management application developers. The
group is chartered to develop industry standards that make printers and
other imaging devices, and the applications and operating systems
supporting them, work better together.
“Microsoft’s WS-Scan specification is a significant contribution to the
Printer Working Group. It will greatly help us in our effort for
industrywide standardization of networked multifunction device behaviors
and capability representation,” said Jerry Thrasher, PWG chair and senior
standards engineer for Lexmark International Inc. “The PWG Semantic Model,
a widely adopted model of network printer behaviors and capabilities, is
being extended to include multifunction devices. Maintaining a consistent
model for behaviors and capabilities of multifunction devices within the
industry not only improves interoperability across operating environments,
but also helps reduce implementation costs for device manufacturers.”
Windows Vista includes device drivers for a wide variety of
increasingly powerful printers and multifunction devices that support
innovations in graphics, networking and imaging. There are currently nearly
77,000 devices and hardware components certified for use with Windows
Vista. Microsoft is contributing WS-Scan to the PWG to help improve
interoperability and make the connectivity process easier and more seamless
for consumers.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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