Four companies belonging to Wipse’s (the Windows + Services Consortium) OpenXML Subcommittee – Advance Software, Appresso, GrapeCity, and Skyfish - conducted the world’s first interoperability verification experiment on a system composed of products of several software companies using the OpenXML global data format standard. The vendors simulated the working environment of a vending machine installation salesman, designing the system in such a way that when the salesman finds a potential vending machine location and sends the requisite data via a mobile PC to his company, the company system will automatically prepare and return information such as vending machine models that would fit the location and sales projections, together with an installation proposal. The system also enables text-to-speech readout of the information sent to the salesman. The vendors hope to be able to offer this system as a solution by year end. The vendors found that using Open XML as their data transfer mechanism significantly reduced development costs.