The Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) is pleased to announce our joint alliance with the Printer Working Group (PWG) who handles IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (ISTO) standards for the print industry. From the MPSA standpoint this alliance is with some of the brightest technical minds our industry has to offer, and we believe our members have the customer and business experience to help this alliance.

What this means to the MPSA Members:

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The PWG deals very heavily on the development of the technical side of the printed document environment as they devise and set standards that are best for our industry. As such, they seek additional “real world” thoughts and feedback that we believe our Members within the MPS industry experiences on a daily basis.

Watch for further information in the weeks to come as we move forward with focus groups and surveys within the MPSA Membership to help facility the communications, and allowing on industry to move forward with the combined efforts of both groups.

Possible topics of cross-communications:

• Internet Printing Protocol
• Imaging Device Security
• Web-based Imaging Management Services (WIMS)
• Multifunction Device

General Information on PWG

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General

The Printer Working Group (PWG) is a Program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (ISTO). The ISTO provides the legal identity of the PWG as a “Not-for-profit Industry Consortium” and provides the overall operating framework and some support services. The PWG has a charter, rules and procedures tailored to the requirements of hardcopy imaging technology, the market, and the suppliers and users. The PWG is chartered to make printers, multi-function devices, and the applications and operating systems supporting them work together better. Activities have been concerned primarily with network protocols for management and job submission.

Information Exchange Philosophy and “Intellectual Property Policy”

The membership of the PWG includes companies that compete with each other in a very competitive business. The objective of the PWG is therefore to provide useful standardization to benefit the industry as a whole and its customers; it is not to benefit specifically any one company or group of companies. All information developed by, proceedings of and products of the working groups are public and freely available both to members and non-members. Indeed, non-members can and are invited to participate in working groups activities although not as officers and without a vote.

Membership

There are three levels of  PWG membership: Large Company, Small Company, and Individual. Representatives of company members have voting rights and can serve as officers of the PWG working groups. Individual members can serve as working group officers but not as PWG officers and do not have voting rights. Membership is open to any interested party and the membership dues are minimal.

Current members are:

Last Updated on Friday, 03 September 2010 14:07