DIGITAL digest
Pantone Extends Brand Into Ink-jet Consumables
CARLSTADT, NJ—Pantone Inc. is making a bid to expand the application of its color expertise by launching the PANTONE ColorVantage family of premium ink-jet inks, papers and specially developed profiles. The company initially intends to focus on the wide-format printing segment, and piezo-electric engines specifically, informs Andrew Hatkoff, vice president, Electronic Color Systems.
Working in partnership with a third-party supplier, Pantone has developed a pigmented ink set (specially formulated CMYK plus light cyan and magenta) with a significantly larger color gamut than that offered by standard OEM inks, Hatkoff claims. Anticipating a potential concern, he adds that the Magnus-Moss Warranty Improvement Act prohibits OEMs from voiding a printer warranty based on the use of non-OEM cartridges.
The company currently plans to only offer paper substrates, in a range of finishes that includes high-gloss, premium photo, semi-matte proofing, matte and fine art. Hatkoff says the papers have been designed to maximize their white point and color accuracy properties.
Custom profiles complete the package by optimizing the performance of specific print engine, ink and paper combinations. The company is planning to create profiles for additional substrates, without necessarily developing the materials as branded products.
According to Hatkoff, the target price point for the consumables is 10 to 15 percent below that of OEM products. Phase one of the rollout is to include support for Epson Stylus Photo 1270/1280 and Epson Stylus Pro 5000/5500, 7000/7500 and 9000/9500 printers, as well as corresponding "Epson-compatible" models from Mimaki, Mutoh and Roland. Pantone says it has no plans to sell the products directly and has signed up Staples Inc., the office supply chain, as its first distributor. (www.pantone.com)
CIP4 Launches Additional MIS Initiatives
Washington, DC—CIP4 (The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress) has chartered a new MIS (Management Information System) working group. The mission of the working group is to facilitate the implementation and integration of JDF (Job Definition Format) in MIS managed environments.
Its stated intent is to provide a central forum and unified environment in which MIS companies and other industry vendors (prepress, press and finishing equipment manufacturers, as well as other software providers) can work toward establishing a minimal set of transaction types that the parties can support to implement JDF integration. CIP4's MIS working group will also define the technical aspects of these integrations, so members will be able to deliver working interfaces within an agreed upon time line.
The group's specific areas of responsibility include the following interfaces:
* Customer to/from MIS, including product description and quoting.
* MIS to/from Production Planning.
* MIS to/from Prepress, including workflow software and equipment.
* MIS to/from Pressroom, including conventional and digital printing devices.
* MIS to/from Postpress, including finishing and bindery operations.
According to the organization, the new working group's findings will also be used in the ongoing cross-vendor interoperability testing events, which are sponsored by CIP4, and will serve as the foundation of MIS-related JDF certification testing. Formal certification testing will be performed by third-party labs on behalf of CIP4. (www.cip4.org)
Digital Bytes
ROCHESTER, NY—Xerox Corp. and Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) have ended a reseller agreement in the United States under which KPG had been selling Xerox mid-range and entry-level production equipment and related products. However, Xerox will continue to market the KPG Matchprint Professional Server as a color front end for the Xerox DocuColor 12 color printer. (www.xerox.com/www.kpgraphics.com)
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA—The Strata Companies, a full-service marketing firm, has became the first Philadelphia-area installation of a Xerox DocuColor iGen3 digital production press. The company says it is aiming to grow revenue by 50 percent in 2004, with the digital press driving demand in business. (www.gostrata.com/ www.xerox.com)
NORWALK, CT—Kodak Polychrome Graphics' Matchprint Digital Halftone proofing system has earned a PANTONE Hexachrome license from Pantone Inc. This was enabled through the introduction of a new HiFi (CMYK+OG) color set that expands the IR-thermal proofing system's color gamut. (www.pantone/ www.kpgraphics.com)
BOGALUSA, LA—Delta Printing has helped Heidelberg reach a milestone by becoming the 250th installation site in the U.S. for the Prosetter CTP system. Delta purchased an eight-up version of the internal-drum, violet-laser platesetter, packaged with Heidelberg's MetaDimension front end, the PrepressInterface upgrade, SpinJet 5500 proofing system, color management software and a large supply of consumables. This mid-sized print shop has 30 employees. (www.heidelbergusa.com)
NORTH ANDOVER, MA—Eagle-Tribune Publishing Co. (ETPC) has become the first user, worldwide, of the Agfa Advantage DL3850 violet-laser CTP system designed for the newspaper industry. The company reportedly has decided to add a second unit to help support production of 10 newspapers (four dailies and six weeklies) with a combined circulation of more than 212,000 subscribers. (www.eagletribune.com/www.agfa.com)
WEST BEND, WI—Serigraph Inc. is the first U.S. installation site for the 74 Karat digital offset press, from KBA North America, with a special plastics printing option. An in-line coating unit enables the press to switch between running with standard aqueous and white opaque coating for clear plastic and lenticular printing. (www.serigraph.com/www.karatpress.com)
RANCHO DOMINGUEZ, CA—RNJ Printing has carved out a niche in the booming hobby marketplace, says John Osten, company president. To meet the turnaround and quality demands of its clients, the shop has installed a PlateRite 8000 eight-up thermal CTP plate recorder driven by a Trueflow Pro PDF workflow solution, both from Screen (USA). (www.screenusa.com)
HOLLAND, MI—SVH Group has installed a Quickmaster DI Pro from Heidelberg to enable fast, high-quality and economical production of short color runs. "We'll be able to turn around rush jobs with extremely tight deadlines and still have time left over to look after our customers' needs," says Ted Etheridge, president and CEO. (www.svhgroup.com)
ROCHESTER, NY—Xerox Corp. announced it has passed another benchmark with its DocuColor iGen3 digital color press, having shipped more than 100 units worldwide to date. Among its current install base, the company reports average monthly volumes of 380,000 prints per month, with some customers producing as many as 1.1 million pages per month per machine. The device's maximum operating speed is 100 pages per minute. (www.xerox.com/igen3)
SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA—Grafico Inc., a graphic design and prepress house, has implemented the SWOP-certified Matchprint Virtual Proofing system from Kodak Polychrome Graphics. (www.kpgraphics.com)
ROCHESTER, NY—NexPress Solutions is collaborating with Saepio Technologies to help users of the NexPress 2100 digital production color press tap into the growing market of Web-to-print fulfillment. Saepio, based in Kansas City, is the developer of Agilis Media Producer, a marketing tool for creating customized, print-ready marketing materials using online versioning of template-based documents. (www.saepio.com)
SAN LUIS OBISPO—Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Department recently took delivery of a Xeikon DCP 50D digital web press and Printstreamer 2 front end donated by Xeikon America. The company joins Hewlett-Packard, Xerox and Heidelberg in providing the university with digital technologies for printing education, notes Harvey Levenson, head of the Graphic Communication Department. (www.calpoly.edu/www.xeikon.com)
VISTA, CA—Working with the Southern California Tribal Chairman's Association, HP Indigo has donated an HP Indigo 3000 digital color press to help launch Hi-Rez Digital Solutions, a for-profit business providing digital printing services to customers throughout Southern California. (www.indigonet.com)
LAS VEGAS—Markzware and I.O. Technologies announced they will co-develop new training resources for FlightCheck Professional users. The training will be deployed online using I.O. Technologies' olle learning environment and olle InfoFind knowledge support system. (www.markzware.com/www.olle.com)
VANCOUVER—Creo Inc. has marked its 8,000th installation of a Brisque workflow management system. Thijsen Rotatiedruk bv, a Netherlands-based web printer and an official purveyor to the country's Royal Household, installed the milestone system. (www.creo.com)
