Momentum Builds for Salutation Consortium Protocols

SOMERS, N.Y., May 8, 1997… IBM is among several companies announcing products today that support and build momentum for the Salutation Consortium’s open standard for locating and controlling Internet devices to facilitate information exchange. The introduction of IBM NuOffice Version 1.0 has expanded the ability to share information locally and remotely for Lotus Domino** and Notes** users, whether they are in the office or on the road.

IBM NuOffice gives users of Lotus Notes clients access to a wide range of information appliances such as online copiers and scanners, whether they are attached directly to a local Lotus Domino Server, or connected remotely through mobile computing access technologies. It also offers the Domino information workers new information capture, storage, and retrieval techniques.

IBM NuOffice is one of the planned software offerings that will be based on the IBM Salutation Manager, announced earlier this year. Using the IBM Salutation Manager enables the majority of the world’s PCs to more readily communicate with peripherals, office machines, applications and services across the Internet.

In addition to IBM, five other Salutation Consortium member companies today either announced Salutation**** enabled products or announced their intention to provide Salutation enabled appliances. They include Canon Inc. and Canon Sales Co., Inc., Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., Mita Industrial Co., Ltd., Murata Machinery, Ltd. and Ricoh Company, Ltd.

“We live in a mobile society that increasingly relies on instantaneous communication. Enabling Lotus Domino and Notes users through IBM NuOffice, is the first step in providing information access from hand-held computers, PDA’s, pagers, cellular and digital phones,” said Steve Mills, general manager, IBM Software Solutions. “Standards such as those developed by the Salutation Consortium ensure that information goes where users want it and when they want it, regardless of what information appliance they happen to be using.”

“Domino users are looking for ways to stay in lock-step with expanding networks,” said Steve Sayre, Lotus vice president of marketing. “NuOffice will simplify this process by enabling quick detection of new peripherals as they get attached, directly or through remote ports, to the Network, establish the peripherals functional capabilities and then make them available for use by the Notes client user.”

IBM NuOffice enables Lotus Domino and Notes users to:

• Directly input information into a Domino database or server from online copiers, fax machines, and scanners and then view, paste into another document, or email the image.
• Send documents from the Notes client database to a Salutation enabled printing device and enjoy full printing capabilities including sorting, stapling, high speed and volume printing and feedback such as print completion or error reports.
• Easily download required printing device drivers from a Notes database and receive notification via email when any printing drivers are updated.

Additional Offerings

Announcements by other Salutation Consortium members include:

• Canon Inc. and Canon Sales Co., Inc. announced today the Salutation enabled model of Digital Copier GP30F.
• Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. announced today the intention to support Salutation on the “Network Able series”.
• Mita Industrial Co., Ltd. announced today “Mita Network Connection Kit for Notes”.
• Murata Machinery, Ltd. announced today “FAX Server F-120/150″.
• Ricoh Company, Ltd. announced today a digital copier “imagio MF-P series” and related products compatible with Salutation.

All of these products are initially available in Japan only. Additional Information

The first release of IBM NuOffice is available today in Japan with U.S. availability planned for later this year. Version 1 will support:

• Server: Notes R4.1J and R4.5J for OS/2*
• Client (Print): Notes R4.1J and R4.5J for Windows 95J**
• Client (Scan): Clients supported by Notes R4.1J and R4.5J

Future releases of IBM NuOffice will focus on providing worldwide availability, adding support for Windows NT** as a server platform and providing support for Salutation enabled facsimile devices. About the Salutation Consortium

IBM is a member of the Salutation Consortium, a 30+ member non-profit corporation. The consortium develops The Salutation Architecture, which eases the exchange of information regarding Internet peripherals and devices, and is independent of network transport, hardware platform and operating system software. The IBM Salutation Manager, is IBM’s implementation of The Salutation Architecture.

The Salutation Consortium membership includes APTi, Axis Communications AB, Canon Inc., Casio, Cisco Systems, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Fujitsu Limited, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi, Ltd., Integrated Systems, Inc., IBM, Iwatsu Electric, Justsystem Corporation, Kobe Steel, Konica Corporation, Lexmark International, Inc., Matsushita, Microware Systems Corporation, Minolta Co. Ltd., Mita Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Murata, Machinery, Ltd. Novell, Inc., Oki Data, Inc., Ricoh Company, Ltd., Rios Systems Company, Ltd., Sanyo Electric Company, Ltd., Seiko-Epson Corporation, Sharp Company, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba Corporation and Xerox Corporation. About IBM