The Wide Format Working Group has already produced a draft Interoperability Conformance Specification document against which products can be tested for certification.

Jose Abad Peiro is chair of the group and is program manager for HP's global DesignJet web connected printers and solutions business. He said that many wide format jobs end up being either problematic or costing the printer too much because of interoperability issues.

"When customers submit their jobs over the internet they frequently have colour management issues such as double colour management, wrong rendering intents, or wrong translations from one colour space to another," he said.

He added that using JDF to ensure better "interoperability with MIS, accurate job information can be extracted from the wide-format printer" for accurate estimates.

Creating a certification based on an open standards platform also ensures that printers are not locked into proprietary vendors, although Abad Peiro said its "HP Certified for Wide Format Printing with JDF Exchange" would ensure a higher level of interoperability between certified products.

The group currently comprises a variety of companies including Agfa, EFI, GMG, Heidelberg, and Screen among others.