Hewlett-Packard Co has moved a step further in its support for Microsoft CorpÆs Universal Plug and Play efforts by demonstrating a new jointly developed lightweight protocol at the WinHec event in Los Angeles. The Simple Service Discovery Protocol, or SSDP, has already been submitted as an Internet Draft to the Internet Engineering Task Force as the proposed standard device-discovery method for Universal Plug and Play.
HP said the work used its own JetDirect print server work as a base point, and demonstrated proof of concept with an NT-JetDirect specific demonstration using its existing print servers and Network Printer Installer software. The setup enables simple device installation over a network, with the protocol enabling devices to be automatically discovered with minimal user effort. HP said it would be using the standardized protocol within future JetDirect and Web JetAdmin products. Although Universal Plug and Play is primarily aimed at consumer markets, HP said it believed the corporate world would also take up the technology for easier network administration.
But, HP claimed it would still be working with Novell IncÆs NDPS distributed print services, and with Sun Microsystems Inc on Jini. The way in which different technologies are approached is vary varied even within Jini and Java and HP spokesperson said. From our perspective, network devices must work with many different partners. Some of these overlap, and some are complementary. The spokesperson wouldn’t comment on timescales.
Also at WinHec, HP announced ChaiAppliance Plug and Play, its plan to incorporate Universal Plug and Play into its embedded systems alternative Java virtual machine clone. Chai is intended for use in Java-based appliances, which will now be able to use Microsoft’s UP&P as an alternative to Sun’s Jini.
