First I want to thank all of the member company people that helped plan and execute our COMDEX Fall '97 show participation and activities. With special thanks to the COMDEX booth staff that delivered the Salutation messages and demonstrations. The up-front planning and hard work resulted in a first class booth and deliverables that attracted numerous visitors and satisfied their varied interests and questions about Salutation.

Our theme was "Network Resource Management for Applications". The visitors to our booth were given the opportunity to learn how Salutation enabled applications can provide; discovery and control of information appliances on the network, access and support for Salutation enabled and legacy appliances, and applications that adjust to appliance capabilities. This was accomplished by featuring on-going demonstrations and presentations of IBM Japans's NuOffice, XtraWorX's Salutation Port-of Entry Prototype, and STS Consulting's Salutation API driver. The myriad of questions we received could be answered directly or indirectly by referring to one or more of the display screens that were available on each pedestal .

The people who visited our booth represented all aspects of the information technology industry, from end users to developers to system integrators. They worked in a large variety of industries, including local, state and federal governments, and came from countries all over the world. The one thing they all seemed to have in common was a need to solve their unique networking problems; e.g. connectivity, interoperability, ease of use, cost of ownership, or service and support. Most arrived with the question of whether the Salutation Architecture could solve their individual networking problems. They left with a better understanding of where and how Salutation could provide solutions for many of their problems.

Our COMDEX presence also attracted industry analysts and press who were interested in getting an update on the consortium progress and seeing the demonstrations of the Salutation products and prototype development tools. They gave positive feedback on what they saw and heard, including suggestions for companies and individuals to contact who might be interested in Salutation.

In summary the COMDEX Fall '97 show was a very positive experience for the Salutation Consortium. A number of companies have expressed interest in becoming a member of the consortium and the follow-up process has begun. In addition the Port of Entry prototype received excellent reviews for its ease of use and ability to make legacy devices available to Salutation enabled applications. During the five days many new people and companies became aware of Salutation and the benefits it can provide.

In each issue, this section of the Salutation Newsletter will highlight potential uses for the Salutation Architecture. We aim to prod your thinking as you visualize how Salutation might benefit your business. First we'll describe how someone might use Salutation-enabled products and services to solve a problem, then we'll take the covers off and show you how Salutation technology made the scenario possible.

High Tech-High Touch Shopping

Billy and Terry enjoy shopping together. They both carry a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with Infrared (IR) transmission capability. However, their devices are from different manufacturers. Billy's PDA has a clamshell design containing a keyboard and monochrome display, and runs on a standard Windows based operating system. Terry's PDA does not have a keyboard, but does sport a color, touch activated display running on a proprietary operating system. Today, they are shopping at a supermarket that handles more than ten thousand items. As they enter the store, they each turn on their PDAs which automatically connect to the supermarket's server via the IR link. The application on the server identifies the characteristics of each PDA and locates personal shopping profiles for both Billy and Terry. The profiles contain buying habits, account balance, frequency of shopping and brand preference information. The server also downloads a unique client application to each PDA based on the PDA's characteristics. Both Billy and Terry will use their PDAs to assist them with their shopping.

Billy uses the PDA to search the stores inventory for price comparison on the items from the shopping list he entered into the PDA prior to the shopping trip. This task is performed as Billy interacts with the client application the store's server downloaded. This results in the transmission of a search request to the server application. The server then retrieves requested information from the merchandise database and sends it back to the PDA in the form and format associated with the PDA's capability. Billy selects several items from the list. The store's server responds with isle and shelf information to help Billy find the needed items.

Using her stylus, Terry pulls up several recipes from her PDA's data base. The kids have made requests for these dishes this morning. Using the user interface that was downloaded to her PDA, the ingredients are forwarded to the store's server. Noting Terry's buying habits, the server responds with a shopping guide pointing her to her favorite brands. The server also sends a remainder that a special cooking tin is needed for one of the recipes and asks Terry if she needs one. She responds by selecting "No."

As they wander the isles, filling their baskets with their selected items, Terry notices some additional items she needs. She quickly enters the isle and shelf location through the user interface unique to her PDA, and the item is added to her list. When they are through, Billy and Terry proceed to a cashier. The cashier Point-of-Sale (POS) is also connecting to the server, and the purchases are already recorded in the stores data base, with updates posted for inventory, accounts receivable, and shipping. Billy's total is adjusted for his frequent buyer discount. All that is necessary is for Billy and Terry to verify the transaction. They each enter their security code in their PDA which sends the authentication and authorization codes to the POS. Once verification is achieved, the POS sends receipt information to the PDAs.

Later, Billy updates his tax/accounting data base by transferring this months purchase information through the PDA to home PC connection .

Salutation Behind the Scenes

1.When the PDAs are turned on, an initial Salutation Protocol exchange occurs between the devices and the store's server. This exchange reveals the characteristics of each device to the server, including the owner. This information can be used to tailor interactions to meet the specific hardware and software capabilities of the PDAs and to personalize interactions based on the buyers preferences.

2.Information gained through the Salutation protocol exchange includes memory capacity, operating system type and version, input/output characteristics and existing on-board applications.

3.Applications loaded by the server evaporate when the owner caries the PDA from the store. (This brings new meaning to the term 'Vaporware').

4.Salutation Protocol is also used between the POS and PDA, again to establish the shopper for reference to appropriate account information and establish the form and format for authorization transactions.

The fifth in a series by Robert A. Pascoe, former president of the Salutation Consortium. Pascoe now operates Senior Technical Staff Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm focusing on interconnection technologies and interworking.

Remember MEGATRENDS, a 1982 best selling book by John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene which posted prophecies for the decade to come? The authors described ten major shifts in social, economic, political and technological trends, with the premise that these shifts would have wide ranging effects on our lives. We have been reviewing these trends to see if the authors' visions have come to pass and what it has meant to our life and lifestyle today. In this issue of Greetings we will take a look at the eighth trend:

8. Hierarchies to Networking

The Trend: Naisbitt and Aburdene predicted that hierarchical forms of government and business management would be eliminated and replaced by a flatter organization. With decentralization and a global focus, it would be increasingly hard to define a hierarchy. Decisions would be made lower down in the organization by people in touch with the facts.

Today: Industry calls it re-engineering, downsizing and teams-based management. Government calls it local control. There's been a rush to achieve this networking paradigm. And as the downsizing trend placed many a middle manager on the unemployment line, networking took on a different meaning; communication with friends and business acquaintances to find a new job.

Networking has also taken the form of self-help groups and chat rooms. Networks have developed for AIDs sufferers, StarTrek afficionados, Neighborhood Watch programs, and baseball card collectors.

The Home Shopping Network is an example of this trend. Rather than shopping through the traditional Mall anchor store with the hierarchy of buyer to warehouse to distribution center to store display, Home Shopping Network provides a direct network connection between the manufacturer and the consumer with the added excitement of timed sales and real-time volume discounts.

The trend to networking has brought us the 'virtual company'. This new paradigm allows companies to run lean, bringing in vendors, suppliers, consultants, and distributors as needed, then dissolving these business relationships when tasks are done.

For example, in the 'just-in-time' environment adopted by many companies, it may be necessary to bring in a new supplier to meet production demand. This may require building a new information infrastructure to provide for interchanging of product specifications, work orders, invoices and other business related information. Once the task is completed, the information infrastructure is torn down.

Building and maintaining an information infrastructure is difficult under these dynamic circumstances. What are the hardware and software capabilities of the new vendor? How can it be assured that specifications, pictures and drawings are printed with the highest degree of fidelity? Are there common applications and services between the two organizations? How is security and privacy maintained? And how can these questions be answered in a minimum amount of time with a minimum exposure to error? Bridging the individual networks with Salutation technology automates capability discovery, device and service availability check, and service session management.

IBM Japan Corporation has unveiled new software designed to implement an advanced, efficient, new office environment. The software, called IBM NuOffice V1.1, allows a user to receive fax information as email and to send email to fax machines.

The announced product incorporates a fax feature in addition to the scanning, image import, and print features that were available in the IBM NuOffice V1.0, announced last May. NuOffice is compatible with the Salutation Architecture that is intended to effect the interconnection of copiers, faxes, scanners, printers, PCs, and related pieces of office equipment.

How Salutation-enabled NuOffice Works

Running on Lotus Notes Domino Server and Lotus Notes Client (both referred to as "Lotus Notes"), the new product allows one to send and receive faxes as easily as sending and receiving email. For example, a document received from a G3 fax can be imported into a Notes database and information from the database can be sent to individuals and shared by a group. Similarly, fax documents can be sent using the mail function of Notes.

In addition, a receipt acknowledgment feature that notifies the sender whether the transmitted document has accurately been delivered to its destination, and a feature that alerts one of the fax transmission errors by means of email are also available. The new product is also capable of sending a fax or email even when the destination addresses contain a mix of both email addresses and fax numbers.

Because of the product offerings from IBM Japan and other companies, the Salutation concept has rapidly evolved from the specifications and development stage to a stage that provides specific solutions to various office environments.

The new product is compatible with Windows NT and runs with Lotus Notes R4.1 and R4.5 Priced at 98,000 yen (exclusive of the consumption tax), the new product packaged with a server license and a client license will ship beginning December 10.

Related Products

Multifunction Machine Antico 10 from Mita Kogyo Co., Ltd. and Fax Server System V-710S from Murata Kikai Co., Ltd. have also been announced. These products represent the first wave of devices that are designed to work together with the fax feature that was announced today.

Salutation-capable fax systems are also expected to be released by Canon Sales Corporation.

IBM Japan and its business partners will aggressively market as vendor logo products Canon's GP30F, the shipment of which has already commenced, Fuji Xerox's Network Able Salutation-compliant products, and the newly commercialized Salutation fax machines.

The 8th Salutation Consortium Technical Committee (TC) meeting was held at Sun Microsystems, Menlo Park, California, USA, on October 13 and 14. 25 people attended from the following 15 member companies:.

- Axis
- Canon
- Cisco
- Fuji Xerox
- HP
- IBM
- Lexmark
- Matsushita
- Mita
- Muratec
- Ricoh
- Sharp
- STS Consulting
- Sun
- Xerox

The meeting objectives were to discuss Salutation Architecture enhancement topics, and to establish further work plans. Major agreements made were as follows:

• The TC understood that HP's JetSend and Salutation Architecture are complementary efforts, and agreed to enable JetSend device discovery via Salutation. Following work items are identified to accomplish this objective:
• 1. add JetSend attribute to the existing FUs, and
• 2. define a new FU for JetSend devices.
• The TC reviewed and agreed that print operations, printing parameters and job/equipment status are easily mappable between Internet Printing Protocol and Salutation, so that Salutation equipment can serve as IPP printers via a gateway server support for protocol conversion. The TC will continue to watch the IPP activities.
• The TC reviewed the latest status of IETF Internet Fax activity. The TC will continue to watch this activities.
• The TC agreed that the existing [DOC Storage] FU should not be utilized for e-mail/Fax sending operation. Instead, a new FU should be defined in the future for e-mail/Fax.
• The TC agreed that the Salutation Manager (SLM) will use the Service Location Protocol (SLP) to discover services beyond a single subnet, and that the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-enabled directory would be used via a gateway for services that require global accessibility. The TC understood a need to work on standard directory schema for device services. The schema definition should be easily mappable among the Salutation-defined attributes, SLP schema, and LDAP schema definitions.
• The TC briefly discussed a new enhancement work item to define a Java API to enable server applications to access office equipment so that ISVs will be encouraged to develop applications which will work on any servers and which are independent of underlying protocol between the server and equipment. The TC agreed to research related industry activities and consider possible work scope for us, and to continue discussion at the next TC.

Perspectives

How do you know when a technology's time has come?

There are lots of good technology ideas that surfacing every day. Some grab hold of our imaginations immediately and will be on the consumer shelves in time for Christmas, some linger in the background waiting for a consumer connection, while others slip off the drawing board into the round-file without much fanfare.

The key for technology oriented businesses is to determine when an idea's time has come.

For some, this becomes a process of introducing the technology to the marketplace in a 'user-friendly' form, allowing the consumer to grow accustomed to the technology before bringing more sophisticated uses forward. For example, the video game can be viewed as the for-runner to the home PC. The notion of micro-electronic chips providing the user with a means of interacting with information content displayed on a screen was first introduced as a game called "Pong". Gradually the games became more sophisticated, requiring increasingly complex user interfaces, faster processors and larger storage. It would be difficult to justify the power, speed, and capacity of today's home PCs just to run an automated phone book, a word processor, balance your checkbook and surf the web. But when you throw in the requirements to run the latest version of Riven or Tomb Raider II the need for 24x CD, 3D graphics accelerator, and 300 MHz processor is clearly obvious!

As an example of technology that must wait in the wings, consider fiber-optics. This technology was invented over 40 years ago. And for the longest time, the only market was the fiber-optic lamp. Some of you may not be old enough to remember it. The lamp consisted of a light source in the base with a frock of fiber-optic spaghetti plumbing upward and falling to all sides like a frozen fountain. The light was carried by the fibers till it was emitted at the tips like tiny stars. Add a rotating mulit-color filter and you had required paraphernalia for any self respecting hippie in the late 60's. This technology didn't blossom until light energy was harnessed as an information carrier, first through optical isolators, and then through fiber-optic cables. This gave birth to competing long distance phone companies and the "dime lady".

Let's shift our focus to the ubiquitous network; the interconnection of multiple devices and applications that can enter and leave a network at will. Examples are the networking of your PC, digital video camera, scanner, TV, etc. with your neighbor's or colleague's home controller, information server, security camera, fax machine, and coffee pot. It seems that there have been several attempts to penetrate this market; Microsoft's AtWork and Novell's NEST come to mind. Will the promise of these technologies ever hit the main stream? How can we measure if the time has arrived?

Lets take our first measurement from COMDEX'97 Fall which was held in Las Vegas November 17-21, 1997. This convention is the premier computing industry show and expo, with traditional focus on mainframes, minis and micros, office automation, operating systems, mass storage devices, and Wide Area Networks. It was a place where pocket protectors could be worn proudly and marketing types were banned. But this year things were markedly different. Consumer products are beginning to dominate the show. Most manufactures were showing laptops, home PC and hand helds; many were showing digital still and video cameras and the interconnection of these devices with photo quality printers, photo album software and e-mail. An abundance of set top boxes were also on display. Product displays were countered by chip manufactures hawking there latest embeddable products. It felt supprisingly like COMDEX was merging with the Consumer Electronic Show.

But the best measurement technique for popular acceptance of technology is to note the penetration of techno-speak into the popular press. There have been trade magazines for years which focused on the computer industry. Datamation, Network World, and Computer Week to name a few. But the market for these publications has been the computer professional, not the consumer. But recently, Ziff-Davis Publishing, traditionally focused on this computer professional, has introduced ComputerLife, a magazine reviewing "$1,000 systems, great games, business and travel gadgets, cameras, software, and kids stuff". And Time/Life Publishing, long a stalwart of the magazine racks, has introduced TimeDigital, "a guide to personal technology".

• Salutation Managing Director's UK Customer, Press and Analyst Tour, December 8-12, 1997.
• Salutation Consortium Board of Directors Meeting, January 13, 1998, Kyoto, Japan
• Participate in the Infrared Data Association (IrDA) Meeting, February 3-4, 1998, San Jose, CA.
• Documentation '97 West, Exposition and The Document Software Conference, Salutation Panel, March 12, 1998, 10:30-12:00, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA.