SAN JOSE, Calif., November 3, 1997--The Salutation Consortium today announced it will make a reference implementation of the Salutation Architecture available to software developers building Salutation functions into their applications. The reference implementation will provide a coded example of Salutation protocols that can be embedded within an application, speeding up design-ins and saving on development costs.
The Consortium has issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking bids for the development of the reference implementation, to be called the Salutation Application Reference Model. The Reference Model will run on Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms. Other platforms are optional. The Consortium will fund development of the Reference Model by the successful candidate.
Responses to the RFI will be accepted until Dec. 1, 1997. According to Robert F. Pecora,
managing director of the Salutation Consortium, the Consortium will evaluate responses to the
RFI based on both the technical solution and the business model proposed. A decision is
expected by the end of the year. The group expects to deliver the completed Reference Model to
developers by spring 1998. Cost of the Reference Model has not been set, but is expected to be
nominal.
The Salutation Architecture is a protocol for locating and controlling computers, consumer devices, and office equipment across the Internet or a company intranet. Salutation allows an application to send a network query to locate a device, application or service. Once a device has been located, Salutation can attach the proper device drivers, allowing maximum possible use of the device and its characteristics.
Intranets build the need for Salutation features by making more peripherals available to the
desktop, and by supporting mobile network attachments. The Salutation specification is
independent of network transport, hardware platform, and operating system software and
supports standard Internet and other message formats.
"The Reference Model is an important step in the Consortium's campaign to attract and support application developers. A Reference Model allows developers to plug in a module for protocol implementation and focus their development efforts on the profitable performance and feature enhancements. Developers will find it easier to build new applications that take advantage of the Salutation Architecture," said Pecora.
The RFI details the minimum requirements for the Reference Model and a test scenario to verify that the minimum functions are met. In addition, developers responding to the RFI are asked to specify additional functionality, the business model to be followed for use and distribution of the resulting product, and a schedule for delivery and support.
The Reference Model adds to the collection of Salutation development tools available, and is
intended to work in concert with other existing tools. The Reference Model must support the
Salutation Manager APIs for the client application and the print/fax/document store functions in
the architecture. These APIs may be licensed from an existing implementer or may be built from
scratch. IBM markets a Salutation Manager toolkit product in the U.S.
The Salutation Consortium has published an open specification that enables an application to locate a particular resource on a network through a broadcast query. The specification is independent of network transport, hardware platform, and operating system software and supports standard Internet and other message formats.
The Salutation Consortium is a non-profit corporation with member organizations in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Member companies include APTi, Axis Communications, Brother, Canon, Casio, Cisco, Eastman Kodak, Fuji Xerox, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Integrated Systems, IBM, Justsystem, Kobe Steel, Komatsu, Konica, Lexmark, Matsushita, Microware Systems, Minolta, Mita, Mitsubishi, Murata (Muratec), Novell, Oki Data, Ricoh, Rios Systems, Sanyo, Seiko Epson, Sharp, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba, WhetStone, and Xerox.