Gigabit Ethernet--The Core of the Network

In the short term, Heidelberg and many other prepress technology providers forecast networks reaching further and further into the pressroom and bindery through direct imaging initiatives and continued movements in CIP3 adoption.

Eventually, connectivity of prepress, press and postpress will be a given. "Then, there's no turning back: The printing enterprise will require an aggregate bandwidth well in excess of fast ethernet," Kita predicts.