PWG-ANNOUNCE> URGENT - WASHINGTON D.C. MEETING CANCELED

Dear PWG Colleague,

The start of military action in Iraq, and heightened
terrorist alert status in the U.S., has forced some of our member companies
to change their travel policies, restricting travel. Although other company’s
travel policies remain unchanged, travel at this time is viewed as tenuous
by many of our regularly attending members. This has resulted in a substantial
reduction in attendance for the Washington D.C. meeting from what was originally
planned. 

In many cases, working group chairpersons, editors
and key contributors have had to de-commit which has resulted in cancellation
of entire working group meetings. The reduction in numbers and key personnel
is disruptive enough to the agenda that the Printer Working Group, along
with FSG and CIP4 have decided to cancel the meetings that were to be held
at the Wyndham Washington D.C. on March 31-April 4, 2003.

To compensate for this sudden change in plans we will
attempt the following

1. We will try to arrange phone bridges so that anticipated
work efforts may still be accomplished via teleconference (WG chairs to
coordinate with PWG chair and ISTO)
2. We will reschedule our July meeting to occur earlier
(May/June) and likely in an easy access west coast U.S. location (ex. Seattle,
San Jose etc.). 
3. We will attempt confluence of PWG, FSG and CIP4
such as would have occurred in D.C. if at all possible
4. We will rearrange our remaining 2003 venue by moving
October from NYC to Provo (Novell hosting) and December from Provo to (likely)
Vegas. 

Most airlines are handling travel cancelations at
this time by allowing passengers to reschedule w/o penalty within a specific
time frame (ex. with Frontier it is May 1) and complete travel by year
end. Check with your airline. 

You are responsible for canceling your own hotel reservations!

For those of you who have registered with the ISTO
for the D.C. meetings, your credit card will "NOT" be charged
any fees by the IEEE for this meeting.  If you do see a charge please
notify Ami Patel right away. Please see her contact information below:

Ami Patel
a.s.patel@xxxxxxxx
Phone: +1 732 465 6477
Fax: +1 732 981 9473

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please do
not hesitate to contact either myself or Ami.

With Kindest Regards,

Harry Lewis
IBM
PWG Chairman
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Harry Lewis 
IBM Printing Systems 
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