COMPUTER-TO-PLATE -- CTP Editions

At its current state of development, the technology side of the equation is much less trying than the workflow issues, Aho says. He believes the biggest selling point of the thermal imaging process is the quality of the printing dot it produces.

The one technical issue that still presents its share of challenges is keeping up with the network and storage capacities required to support the CTP workflow, the prepress expert notes. "We've had to make significant changes in our storage and network systems almost every 12 months. I think we'll be moving toward SAN (server area network systems) technology, with redundant everything to support a prepress environment that will become 100 percent CTP," Aho says.