SAN FRANCISCO, February 3, 1997-Sun Microsystems, Inc. has joined the Salutation Consortium and will participate in developing an industry-standard protocol for locating and controlling computers, consumer devices, and office equipment across the Internet or a company intranet.
"Sun's expertise in Java technology, Internet Service Location, and related technologies supports the Consortium's work in network computing," said Mary Hill, managing director of the Salutation Consortium. "Salutation provides the user a way to find out what devices and services are on the network. This is an often overlooked initial step toward interoperability in network computing."
"Many of our enterprise customers are extending their networks to include remote and mobile computers, office equipment, and thin-client network computers. The technology developed by the Salutation Consortium holds great potential for end users and network administrators alike," said Eric Schmidt, Ph.D., chief technical officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "We're delighted to be a part of this effort."
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is the Computer ", has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc., (NASDAQ "SUNW"), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.
Separately, JustSystems, a developer of word processors for the Japanese market, recently joined the Consortium.
The Consortium was brought to the attention of potential members at Comdex/Fall in November 1996, where it staged the first public showing in the United States of Salutation-enabled devices. The demonstration featured products and prototypes from member companies Axis Communications, IBM, Novell, Mita, Muratec, and Ricoh.
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). (30)
Raymond G. Nasr 415/786-4395 or [email protected]
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