Cambridge, UK and Centreville, VA: July 24, 2007: Global Graphics has hosted the first meeting of the ECMA International Technical Committee (TC46) formed to standardize XPS.
Led by its chair, Global Graphics’ chief technology officer Martin Bailey, the TC46 committee met at Queens’ College, Cambridge, UK to begin work on producing a formal industry standard for the XML Paper Specification, the new print and document format introduced by Microsoft® with Windows Vista.  The TC46 committee comprises representatives from Autodesk, Inc.,, Brother Industries, Ltd., Canon Inc., Ecma International, FUJIFILM Corporation, Fujitsu Labs, Global Graphics Software Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Company, Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc, Lexmark International Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Panasonic, Quality Logic Inc., Ricoh Company Ltd, Software Imaging, Toshiba Corporation, Xerox Corporation and Zoran Corporation.(see photo).
TC 46 was created at the Ecma International General Assembly on 28 June.  Ecma states the “standardization of XPS will enable users to enjoy the benefits the technology provides through a number of electronic paper scenarios. These include improved document archiving, better integration between document peripherals and applications and improved print performance and fidelity, and will be delivered with the assurance that implementations from multiple vendors will be completely interoperable.”
Martin Bailey comments, “TC46 has agreed the methodology we will be using to develop a fully documented and unambiguous standard for an XML-based electronic paper format. We’ve also laid out our roadmap for the months to come. All in all, our first meeting was very constructive, and achieved all of its objectives.”
Global Graphics has played a prominent role in the development and launch of the XPS specification.  A recognized expert in interpreting, rendering and converting Page Description Languages, Global Graphics’ leading edge expertise and engineering capability were factors in the Company being chosen by Microsoft in 2003 to provide consultation services on the XPS specification as well as develop a prototype and a print reference XPS RIP for Microsoft.
Global Graphics maintains that lead today by offering the most extensive range of high performance XPS RIPs and XPS file conversion tools on the market.  These products include XPS RIPs to drive consumer print devices, corporate printers and MFPs as well as production digital presses and prepress equipment; and a comprehensive conversion library to convert between XPS and other page description languages including PostScript, PCL, and PDF for use in printer drivers, print workflows, and a wide range of non-print applications and services.