As part of its customer-focused commitment to interoperability, Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has contributed its Web services protocol specification for consumer scanning peripherals — Microsoft Scan Service Definition Version 1.0 (WS-Scan) — to the Printer Working Group (PWG), a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (ISTO). The contribution of the WS-Scan protocol specification will make it easier for partner companies to make their products interoperable across multiple platforms and deliver new functionality and manageability improvements to customers.

WS-Scan provides a common framework for describing and sharing information between Windows Vista and consumer scanning peripherals. As part of its continuing efforts to work with partners to provide innovative Windows-based solutions and the best set of experiences to meet customers’ specific needs, Microsoft built upon the initial efforts of Xerox Corp. and collaborated with several leading companies in the printing ecosystem to develop the WS-Scan protocol specification. As a result of submitting this specification to the PWG, these solutions will now be available to any platform that companies need to meet their customers’ interoperability requirements.