E-TOOLS - Internet Services Directory

Editor's Note: Keeping track of who's who in the dotcom world can be a bit confusing at times. Here's a directory of the companies offering Internet-based solutions for the graphic arts industry. For a list of online companies that offer paper procurement resources, see the January 2001 issue of Printing Impressions.

58k.com
Gives print buyers access to 58,000 U.S. printers in a centralized auction market using electronic bid forms. Designed to open up all print jobs to all printers. A standardized electronic spec sheet allows print buyers to post quote requests for public consumption. 58k.com rates buyers on their follow-through.

Artmachine.com
Online media asset management system that stores digital content. Customers receive their own unique Artmachine, completely customized to their specific functional, navigational and cosmetic requirements.

AssetTRADE.com
A marketplace for used industrial equipment. The company's online and off-line sales and marketing capabilities offer AssetTRADE customers the ability to identify, evaluate, appraise and resell industrial machinery and equipment.

Cirqit.com
Application Service Provider (ASP) for the commercial printing and fulfillment industries. Provides Web-enabled communication, collaboration and commerce capabilities.

Collabria.com
Offers PrintCommerce service, collection of applications that provide a solution for enterprise-wide print management. Features include online, automated print ordering, project management, job tracking, file management and archiving, and custom marketing.

Corporatebids.com
Receives specifications from print buyers, which are then posted in an auction room, specific only to that job. Time parameters and minimum bid increments are determined for the auction. Pre-approved and qualified suppliers are invited to bid as often as they like. The lowest current bid is visible to all invited bidders during the auction.

Creativepro.com
Graphic artists, illustrators, Web designers and prepress operators can keep track of product updates, industry events and company information in their various areas of interests. Users can also use the site's imaging, troubleshooting, productivity and site extension e-tools.

Digeno.com
An e-procurement solution connecting printers and sheetfed print buyers. Gives sheetfed buyers a collaborative Internet link to printers for RFQs (Request For Quote) and full bid functionality. Digeno enables sheetfed print buyers to connect with printers for capability information, quotations and other information to complete e-procurement transactions. Digeno may integrate fully or completely bypass printers' legacy systems. The hosted scheduling module facilitates pricing and pressroom planning and helps reduce overall administrative expense. Printers can also use the Digeno solution for their outsourcing and buying needs. Digeno is currently in beta testing.

Fileflow.com
Fast and secure delivery and storage solution for format-independent digital image workflow. Enable secure access of multimedia content for PCs, consumer electronics and convergence devices. FastSend and FastStore products incorporate proprietary image compression and military-grade encryption technologies.

four51.com
An e-solution for buyers, distributors and suppliers in the independent distribution channel. They can communicate, collaborate, coordinate and transact with each other online.

Graphicsresourcecenter.com
Offers printers, publishers, industry associations and manufacturers, as well as educational institutions, a platform to communicate, shop and promote new business opportunities. Puts the commercial printing community on the Internet to facilitate both information sharing and business gains.

Graphsearch.net
Browse specific equipment by type (press, prep, bindery, etc.), manufacturer, age, impressions and optional equipment. Users can select only the specific equipment they need, or entire classifications. Also lists employment opportunities across the globe.

Hireskills.com
A job board serving only the graphic arts industry. Employers can post company profiles, search for resumes and post jobs. The site also provides a variety of search tools.

Httprint.com
An e-procurement site, print buyers choose up to three printers to send request for quotes and award project bids. Site also provides buyers with a search function to seek out new printers.

Givemeaprice.com
An auction site that sends the customer's filled-in work order to registered companies in that category. The companies then respond with their bids. The site has 91 companies in the printing, mailing, graphic design and Web design areas involved in the bidding.

Goprinter.com
An ASP provider that offers e-commerce tools to manufacturers and dealers of printing supplies and equipment.

IGetSmart.com
An e-business solution for print distributors and print manufacturers. It is an online, real-time inventory management, product sourcing and ordering system.

I-comindustry.com
Online auction site designed for high-value capital machinery and property, allowing sellers to schedule searchable auctions with automatic, future activation dates.

ImageX.com
Aims to streamline the procurement process. Its Web-based services include the Corporate Online Printing Center, which offers a customized catalog of printed materials; and the Small Business Printing Center, which provides access to a range of personalized printed materials.

Imark.com
Specializes in used industrial equipment and targets commercial printing and publishing. Also contains an equipment buyers' platform featuring prepress, pressroom and bindery systems. (Has since been acquired by FreeMarkets, Inc.)

Impresse.com
Marketing e-procurement suite that enables companies to coordinate planning, messaging, spending and execution of individual projects and integrated campaigns. As part of the marketing e-procurement suite, print buyers can request and compare multiple quotes, negotiate specs, costs and schedules, transfer files to print vendors and manage proofs, press checks and delivery.

Indocs.com
Provides a platform to edit documents online using a Web browser. FinalWord is targeted at corporate marketing staff, designers and publishers. It facilitates business communications during the creation, review, editing and approval process. Printers use FinalWord to access and manage a corporation's documents and assets.

MediaFlex.com
Allows customers to place orders online and specify job requirements, from media selections to finishing options. It offers processing, tracking and invoicing of digital printing jobs. Customers' files are stored on MediaFlex.com's secure servers. Customers can make changes and reorder print jobs. Files are transferred using its secure servers.

Mediastreet.com
Contains an online catalog offering ink-jet supplies, desktop film, direct-to-plate devices and film processors. Also offers specialty areas with street names like Software Circle, JET Street, JET Drive, Ink Ave., Cartridge Court and Finishing Lane. A classified area lists employment opportunities, resumes, as well as used and wanted equipment.

Moneyzone.com
A corporate finance site that offers listing and matching services. The site includes: a forum for buying and selling businesses, merger and acquisition services, debt financing, access to capital for business growth and expansion, want ads, and advice regarding financial and technological issues.

MyFonts.com
Allows a user to find fonts with simple keywords. The user can test a font. The site also offers a MyFonts forum, where users can ask the experts.

NetPaper.com
Automates ordering, accounting and distribution of print-ready documents to authorized printers. User selects documents from a publisher's site, then chooses a printer. NetPaper.com retrieves documents, accounts for copyright royalties and transmits the file.

Noosh.com
Internet-based communication and collaboration service for enterprise-critical printing. Powered by Live Jobs collaborative technology, Noosh.com is designed to improve the process of buying, selling and managing print. Provides a collaborative environment where corporate buyers, printers and creative agencies work together to manage complex corporate printing.

OnlineAssetExchange.com
Global marketplace for the sale of corporate assets. The exchange has recently expanded its marketplaces to include printing equipment. The Online Asset Exchange combines exchange technology with traditional methods of asset disposition, like auctions and brokerages, to provide total asset remarketing services for sellers—from small businesses to Fortune 1,000 corporations.

Pagepath.com
E-commerce solution MyOrderDesk provides companies with an online order form that can be linked to the company's own Website. If the company has no site, MyOrderDesk creates one. It is a Web-based system handling order entry, file transfer and job management.

Paperloop.com
A business exchange for the paper, printing and converting industries. Provides paper manufacturers, converters, printers, suppliers, logistics providers, end users and the financial community with a fast and efficient way of doing business. This is accomplished by delivering and financing industry-specific products and services on a global basis across multiple mediums.

Prepressmall.com
An online source for prepress equipment like scanners, workstations, networks, servers, imagesetters, software, color copiers and RIPs. Also features used equipment. Users can browse want ads and buy consumables and books.

Printable.com
The Printer's Dashboard is a complete e-business solution for printers that provides prepress workflow, variable-data printing services and an e-business-enabled Website. Printable offers such e-tools as online catalogs, private RFPs and a customized care center.

Printbid.com
Holds a database of more than 62,000 U.S. printing companies. Clients can search for printers by locality, equipment, capabilities or name. Clients can combine all their printer preferences, and the site comes up with a short list of printers that match their needs.

Printbuyer.com
Marketplace that allows buyers of printing to find a printer best suited for the buyers' particular type of work. Printers can be featured in the categories of printing that best describes the type of printing they produce, as well as the appropriate regional location and national listing. Each time a print buyer submits an estimate to the appropriate print category, printers receive an e-mail that is an exact copy of what the customer sent. If printers decide that they want to quote on the job, they can then respond directly to the customer.

printCafe.com
Connects print buyers, printers and printing industry suppliers, and automates the printing process by integrating a new Web-based procurement platform with its existing suite of enterprise software applications. printCafe is available through the printCafe.com Website or as a hosted application service through privately branded Websites.

Printchannel.com
For ordering, proofing and output of custom print over the Web. The service is licensed to print vendors. Print buyers and sellers negotiate an order, customers order over the Internet with on-screen proofing, and printers receive image-ready impositions while retaining control over grouping, scheduling, administration and job reporting.

Printequip.com
Features an online directory of new and used printing equipment and graphic arts trade services. Users can sell equipment directly, without brokers' fees or commissions. Users can add to and edit their listings any time. Secure, online equipment purchasing.

Printeralliance.com
A union of more than 60 independent commercial printers designed to pool their collective buying power. For a small membership fee, printers receive rebates twice a year on all products purchased from selected suppliers. Site makes the purchase for the independent printer, handling all bulk rate negotiations with the supplier.

Printerspace.com
A directory of approximately 100,000 printers worldwide. Also provides a reference library, discussion forums and an Internet-wide search engine of printing information.

PrintLYNXX.com
Integrated, Web-based system for managing customized print jobs. Paid for by the buyer with no fees to the printer. Site establishes workflow routines and assigns rights and roles to print buyers, procurement personnel, print material users and management. System does not require a printer to interface with tie-in software to conduct job communication.

PrintMarket.com
Printers gain new clients and have unlimited access to all jobs for bid. The site gives printers access to a robust database, online "address book," free digital file transfer and proprietary "quick fill" job forms.

Printers-mart.com
Flint Ink has partnered with other suppliers to offer an array of supplies and equipment, like densitometers, spectrophotometers, light booths, metering systems and ink. Printers can research products using the site's catalog and add selections to a shopping cart.

Printnation.com
Online superstore for the printing industry, offering access to equipment, supplies, paper, auctions, industry news and business resources.

Printorigin.com
Buyers and suppliers of print and print-related products interact over the Internet in order to buy and sell, manage relationships and automate processes. Features include the ability for buyers to source a printer based on geography, capability, equipment and awards. OriginSuppliesStores is an online catalog and auction facility allowing industry suppliers to promote their products to its printers community.

Printplanet.com
Offers free e-communities for the graphic communications, printing and publishing industries. Features e-communities dealing with CTP, the transition to digital workflows, e-production, color printing and digital asset management.

Printusa.com
Resource for printing information and quotes. Quotes are supplied by the printers that subscribe to the printusa.com printing quote information service. Classified printing equipment want ads are also available.

PrintVIP.com
Virtual Pre-Press is online desktop publishing and print ordering software package. Assists print shop customers in laying out business printing (business cards, letterhead, envelopes).Virtual Pre-Press then assists customers in ordering or re-ordering business printing by providing an order form to let the printer know what the job entails. After customers have filled out the order form, Virtual Pre-Press prepares and delivers the print job to the printer. The Print XPress electronic catalog enables users to reorder items.

Printwire.org
Online print procurement service developed by the Printing Industries of Michigan. Printers can give their clients the ability to request quotes, award contracts, send consolation letter and review reports using their Web browser.

PrintWriter.com
An online information source for digital prepress and digital printing technology news and product information. Technical tips and application reports on digital prepress technologies, information from associations and standards groups, and timely discussions with industry technologists. Research Center features more than 250 white papers, product brochures and technical manuals from digital technologies manufacturers.

Printworkers.com
An online job board for the printing industry. The site connects companies and employees in the printing, copy, digital and Web industries. Since its launch, the site reportedly has handled more than 400,000 searches.

Profilecity.com
Offers Internet-based color management services for printing and publishing: content creators; service providers; and hardware, software, media and ink manufacturers.

Proofitonline.com
Allows members to upload a job onto their Website. It can then be integrated to the member's own site for proofing. Annotation feature allows the person viewing the document to mark it. Also allows tracking the progress of the proof, including the client's comments.

Prtplanet.com
E-classified site offers customers global access for trading their printing equipment, including prepress, press and finishing machinery and consumables. It contains pages for customers to list products for sale, find products and list products they seek. An employment page is also available.

Quickcreative.com
Allows users to search hundreds of images (files) containing customizable brochures, direct mail postcards, bi-folds, tri-folds, sell sheets, trade show posters and more. They are complete with artwork, graphics and color. Users can add logo and company messages, and collateral is ready for print.

Realtimeimage.com
A remote soft and hard proofing online solution, offering communication tools for both print buyers and print sellers.

Sprockets.com
Web collaboration platform enables project reviews and approvals, file management and distribution, as well as cost tracking and allocation. Project teams working locally or across the world can communicate and complete work.

Transaction2000.com
Software package enables a client to personalize artwork for items such as business cards and stationery. Web-based software resides on the printer's Website. All artwork templates are produced by the printer using QuarkXpress and the finished artwork can be sent, by e-mail, to wherever the software user requires.

Tonernow.com
Offers a catalog of toner products from at least 14 different vendors in 11 different categories. Customers can apply for a corporate, educational or government account. Users can sell their empty toner cartridges on-site.