Salutation Consortium
SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 1997 A new version of the IBM Salutation Manager, a software toolkit for the Salutation Architecture, adds support for Windows 95 and Windows NT. The IBM Salutation Manager toolkit helps developers build devices, services, and applications that take advantage of the Salutation Consortium s open protocol for locating and controlling Internet devices.
The IBM Salutation Manager provides developers a source code reference model for the Salutation protocols. The protocols sharply increase the interoperability of network peripherals, office machines, applications, and services. A user, for example, can broadcast a query and locate a particular network resource such as a color copier or a printer with a legal-size paper tray. The Salutation Architecture is independent of network transport, hardware platform, and operating system software.
"The IBM toolkit hides the complexity of Salutation protocols from the developer and makes it easy to add information-exchange features to office machines and other types of Internet appliances," said Mary Hill, managing director of the Consortium.
Implementations of the IBM Salutation Manager are also available for Windows 3.1 and OS/2. Source code for the toolkit is available to developers who want to port the Salutation Manager to other environments. Using the IBM Salutation Manager as a service broker, network devices, applications, and services can discover and utilize one another's capabilities via Salutation protocols on NetBIOS and TCP/IP. Developers can find more information about licenses for IBM s Salutation Manager by contacting Richard J. Osterman, Salutation Project Manager at IBM.
A new Web-based LAN management software product, NetCube for NetFinity V1.0, is the first commercial software based on the Salutation Architecture. NetCube for NetFinity V1.0 was announced January 29 for the Japanese market. IBM demonstrated a prototype in the Salutation Consortium booth at Comdex/Fall last November. Plans have not yet been announced for a North American version.
NetCube software builds HTML files to represent Salutation capabilities for access via a Web browser. In this way, system management capabilities can be extended to Salutation-enabled fax machines, printers, or other devices that are not equipped with NetFinity client software. Using NetCube for NetFinity, a user can control and manage Salutation-enabled devices from any personal computer running a Web browser. The user, for example, can view the status of printer jobs and receive notification when a printer is out of toner or paper. NetFinity manages Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2 and Novell NetWare in a multiprotocol, heterogeneous environment.
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, Eastman Kodak, Fuji Xerox, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Integrated Systems, IBM, Iwatsu, JustSystems, Kobe Steel, Konica, Lexmark, Matsushita, Microware Systems, Minolta, Mita, Mitsubishi, Murata (Muratec), Novell, Oki Data, Ricoh, Rios Systems, Sanyo, Seiko Epson, Sharp, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba, and Xerox.
The Salutation Architecture specification is available on the Consortium's web site (http://www.salutation.org).
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media contact for IBM:
Richard J. Osterman 919/254-6096 or [email protected]