Meet Peter Wyatt, your new ISO 32000 Project Leader

Replacing Cherie Ekholm as Duff Johnson’s co-editor of the ISO 32000 specification is Peter Wyatt, an R&D General Manager at Canon Information Systems Research Australia (CiSRA).

An engineer and computer scientist by training, Peter has worked for CiSRA for the past 14 years. CiSRA is Canon's R&D centre located in Sydney, Australia which focuses on innovative digital imaging algorithms and software.

During his time at CiSRA, Peter has been actively involved with PDF development supporting Canon's global product range, with a specific focus on PDF interpretation, rendering and colour management for consumer and business users. He has watched the PDF specification evolve over this time into the ubiquitous and advanced format it is today, and has developed PDF technologies across a diverse range of platforms, from low-cost embedded to modern cloud and mobile platforms.

Peter's current role is to oversee the R&D of printing and display rendering, and document format core technologies at CiSRA. Peter has examined many good (and bad!) PDFs from around the world, as well as working with various de facto, de jure, and official ISO PDF sub-set standards. His global experience provides in-depth technical expertise on the many issues that a reliable vendor-neutral and implementation-independent document format must resolve for all consumers and businesses.

In addition to PDF, Peter has extensive experience with standardised electronic document formats such as PPML (Personalized Print Markup Language), XPS (XML Paper Specification) as well as print languages, image and metadata formats, etc. He applies his expertise in file formats across a number of different ISO committees including TC 171 (Document Management Applications), TC 130 (Graphic Technology) and TC 42 (Photography) and has been Australian Head of Delegation to ISO TC 171 and TC 130. He also holds a number of granted patents.

As an R&D engineer at heart and an active PDF software developer, Peter understands the challenges lengthy technical specifications must address. From working in a global organisation and across cultures, he also appreciates the need for clear and unambiguous language. He believes that as a global open standard, the ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) document must clearly define all aspects of PDF down to the smallest detail, and leave nothing unstated. This attention to detail will ensure that all the rich capabilities possible in PDF 2.0 documents remain truly portable across all platforms, vendors and implementations well into the future. At close to 1000 pages, and with over 120 normative references, this complex specification must also be structured and written to assist developers from across the globe find the technical information they seek in order to produce and consume compliant PDF 2.0 documents.

The ISO TC 171 SC 2 WG 8 committee brings together many people from around the globe with different viewpoints, experiences and skills, but with the common goal to improve the core specification for the PDF format. Peter has actively represented Australia on the WG 8 committee since 2011.