Subject: PWG-ANNOUNCE> Call for interest - Complete Standard Imaging Model

From: Harry Lewis <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:37:21 -0600

The PWG has a legacy of developing standards that span a large segment of 
the printing industry. The Printer MIB, for example, has been adopted in 
devices ranging from low-price, low-speed network attached printers to 
very high speed production applications. The PWG Common Semantic Model, 
likewise, is leveraged by industry standards ranging from CIP4 to 
Bluetooth. 

One area of primary focus, the networked office device, has undergone a 
transformation from network printer to network MFD with an associated 
shift toward to a services oriented, fleet managed placement and operation 
model. This begs for new standards upon with to base new tools development 
to enable remote management of heterogenous fleets. The PWG is responding 
to this need, largely via the WIMS (Web-based Imaging Management Services) 
effort which includes extending the PWG Common Semantic Model to express 
the necessary device management elements. 

WIMS presents the opportunity (and need) for the PWG to model more than 
just the printer, print job and document... but to grow our model to 
embrace a more complete imaging system including scan, fax, copy and 
finishing services. THIS IS A CALL FOR INTEREST IN FORMATION AND 
PARTICIPATION IN A FORMAL, MFD ORIENTED, PWG WORKING GROUP TO DEFINE A 
COMPLETE STANDARD IMAGING MODEL. I hope the industry will respond with a 
show of support for this effort. To create a CSIM working group we will 
need volunteer leadership and knowledgeable participants from across the 
industry. If, due to lack of bandwidth (in PWG and the industry) we cannot 
muster critical mass, the default approach will be for WIMS to develop a 
skeleton set of objects, enough to express the state and some metrics 
interesting to fleet management and billing (ex. number of scan 
impressions). 

We try not to clog up "pwg-announce" with long threads so I invite you to 
respond to me, personally and copy your response to "[email-masked]" where we 
welcome and encourage general discussion about goals and operation of the 
PWG. 

I look forward to your responses and I will plan a report on this topic 
and proposal for action during the PWG Plenary in Montreal August 18, 
2004.
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Harry Lewis 
IBM STSM
Chairman - IEEE-ISTO Printer Working Group
http://www.pwg.org
IBM Printing Systems 
http://www.ibm.com/printers
303-924-5337
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