A group of vendors lead by Novell Inc want to adapt the ISO 10175 network printing standard known as DPA for document printing application for use across internets and intranets. The problem is that DPA is a heavy-duty protocol designed with mission critical environments in mind while net-based print solutions require a cut-down, go-faster implementation. With that in mind, Novell, working with companies Adobe, Canon, HP, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, QMS, Ricoh, Sharp, Tektronix, Toshiba and Xerox will next month submit a draft proposal for a lightweight implementation of DPA to the Internet Engineering Task Force. They hope IETF will adopt LDPA as a standard that will enable users to send and control print jobs to remote printers attached to th e Internet. Not that it will help standardize the bevy of incompatible and proprietary print management applications on the market which already used bastardized versions of DPA.
