The IBM Corp-inspired SmartOffice Consortium, which is aiming to develop specifications for interconnecting the intelligence within office equipment (CI No 2,618), has released an initial draft specification and announced a change of name. The group, which will now be called the Salutation Consortium, said the specification provides a capability exchange protocol – enabling products to identify device capabilities across the network – and an application programming interface that is independent of hardware and operating systems. As part of its mission, the group said it wants to move away from workstation-centric thinking, so that, for example, a copier could ac cess the intelligence in a facsimile machine to send a document by fax and copy it at the same time. Once the specification is finalised – expected later this year – it will be made available to the industry on a royalty-free basis. Companies do not have to join the consortium to obtain the specification, the group emphasises, but it is still hoping to enlist new members wanting to participate in development. In particular, the group said it would like European companies to join as the old continent is currently not represented at all.
