Web Services Platform Provides Developers With New Tools to Easily Create Customized Applications for Canon MFPs and Enhance Customer Business Workflows

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the release of the MEAP Web Software Developer Kit (SDK) for its MEAP (Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform) - enabled imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs. Expanding upon the existing MEAP platform, MEAP Web provides a web-based services architecture that can be deployed in a typical client-server infrastructure.

The new offering equips development partners with the ability to create customized applications connecting Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs to business applications and business process workflows by communicating through standard web services and HTML protocols. As the new MEAP Web platform greatly enhances a variety of business processes, customers can achieve better workflow efficiency while experiencing an overall cost savings.

"With MEAP Web, our valued partners now have the tools to create customized MFP solutions in less time and with fewer resources, helping them better meet their needs," said Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager, Marketing, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. "By implementing new workflow solutions and offering consistent functionality across their entire fleet, customers can realize a better return on their Canon MFP platform investments."

The introduction of MEAP in 2003 was a major development for the print industry, as it provided developers the opportunity to integrate their software solutions with Canon's imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices. As MEAP technology matured and the adoption of MEAP embedded software flourished, Canon enhanced the imageRUNNER ADVANCE platform to meet the demanding challenges of the modern business environment and allow for deeper integration with day to day business applications and intensive business workflows.

As part of Canon's commitment to furthering the innovation of the MEAP platform, such as improving upon the smart MFP, Canon is offering the MEAP Web SDK to development partners who can now use MEAP Web to meet the needs of the new modern office paradigm. MEAP Web is a complete open platform capable of being used to freely develop and distribute custom MFP solutions.

Built upon web services and a client-server architecture, applications built utilizing Canon's MEAP Web platform offer easy integration to customer web-based applications and services while lessening the time associated with traditional MFP application development and deployment. MEAP Web communicates through standard web services and HTML protocols, creating an opportunity for developers and organizations of all sizes to produce specific and efficient solutions for their individual market or business needs.

MEAP Web provides a variety of benefits for both customers and development partners:

Customer Benefits

Customers will benefit from a rich user experience as this offering supports HTML/XHTML, JavaScript, CSS and Flash applications in a built-in web browser, flexible UI capabilities and an intuitive interface. MEAP Web is an ideal tool for customers with in-house development resources desiring to tightly integrate their MFP technology with internal business applications and workflow with relative ease.
Development Partner Benefits

Development partners will gain access to an additional toolkit for developing applications on Canon's MFP platform (in addition to embedded MEAP). Development partners will find that MEAP Web provides an additional avenue for application development which in many instances will permit them to take advantage of common web services development and quicker time to market.

As MEAP Web uses standard web services technologies, applications can be developed through existing skill sets - saving time and resources traditionally dedicated to training. With MEAP Web, development partners can easily and readily integrate imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices into web-based enterprise applications and workflows.

Availability

Canon's MEAP Web SDK is available to development partners enrolled in Canon's Developer Support Program. Those interested in MEAP Web for either commercial or in-house development can submit a request for more information and enroll in Canon's Developer Support Program by visiting Canon's Developer Relations website at http://www.developersupport.canon.com. Additionally, development partners can use the Developer Relations website for all support related questions.