Plenty of News From Seybold SF
SAN FRANCISCO—Seybold San Francisco was just what the industry expected: A hearty serving of alphabet soup with discussions on PDF, XML and ICC proliferating the conference halls as well as the trade show floor.
Seybold also delivered new launches of color management and digital asset manipulation software, digital file delivery alternatives and Internet design tools, and—what else?—an entertaining keynote from Apple's very own Steve Jobs, jeans and all.
Technological wizardry from Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Bitstream, Creo, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Markzware, Microsoft, Quark (yes, Quark; just Quark, not Adobe's new parent), Pantone, Silicon Graphics, WAM!NET, Xerox, X-Rite and more cast the spotlight on virtually ever area of data creation, manipulation and containment.
For those of you who chose to stay home for this Golden Gate performance, here are some highlights:
Inso Enters Asset Management Game By Acquiring Archetype
Although it seems as though it was only yesterday that Bitstream purchased the makers of MediaBank, the Archetype-born technology, once again, has undergone a transfer, this time to Inso.
Announced at Seybold San Francisco, Inso has acquired the MediaBank media asset management system, InterSep product lines and related technologies from Bitstream for $12 million in cash. Paul Trevithick, founder and visionary of Archetype and more recently the vice president of marketing and CTO of Bitstream, is now president of Bitstream.
The acquisition will complement Inso's electronic publishing platform and will subsequently become a component in Inso's media-independent publishing solution.
With the acquisition of MediaBank by Inso, approximately 30 employees of Bitstream's Archetype Applications Division will join Inso at its Boston headquarters. Currently, the personnel are based at Bitstream's office in Cambridge, MA.
In related news, Inso and Bitstream have entered into a technology licensing agreement, under which Bitstream will license Inso its forthcoming PageFlex client/ server software application. PageFlex enables the design and production of documents for one-to-one information publishing.
Adobe Gets Extreme
A new digital workflow has arrived: Adobe's new implementation of Adobe PostScript Extreme, the high-end printing architecture aimed at helping professional publishers save time and money.
Using Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) and the award-winning PJTF (Portable Job Ticket Format), Adobe PostScript Extreme helps commercial printers cost-effectively manage the complex printing process.
Pantone Colors Wide-Format Market With Roland's Hi-Fi JET
Roland DGA announced the Hi-Fi JET, a new proof-quality printer offering 1,440 dpi resolution in a wide-format device.
Thanks to a licensing agreement with Pantone Inc., Roland's Hi-Fi JET can be calibrated to ensure accurate and consistent color reproduction of PANTONE Matching System colors, whether printing in CMYK, light cyan and light magenta, or PANTONE Hexachrome CMYK, PANTONE Hexachrome orange and PANTONE Hexachrome green.
DAX Partners With Hermstedt to Deliver Range of ISDN Solutions
Digital Art Exchange (DAX) and Hermstedt, a global ISDN provider, announced a strategic alliance to expand connectivity options for graphics, prepress and print professionals. Under terms of the agreement, DAX will offer three Hermstedt Business Plus ISDN solutions, as well as its Network ISDN package.
The solutions are designed to allow swift, secure transmission of files to virtually any ISDN workstation. DAX will offer two-, four- or eight-channel BRI capability providing file delivery speeds between 128Kps and 512Kps.
WAM!VAN Hits the Highway, Hauling Digital Connectivity
Beyond the hype of the big purple truck—which was hard to miss and even harder to visit with crowds packing it solid throughout the show—WAM!NET announced an entry-level ISDN enabler, ISDN On-Ramp, designed to unite 4-Sight and WAM!NET users—as promised when the two companies became one in March.
WAM!NET also announced a special promotional offer called Send Free in 99, which lets customers who sign an annual contract with WAM!NET by Dec. 31, 1998, send unlimited megabytes anywhere in the United States and Canada in 1999 via the WAM!NET network.
Also gaining attention at the show was WAM!NET's Transmission Manager software, which is based on 4-Sight's iSDN Manager. Transmission Manager, the application used for all WAM!NET digital connections, allows the user to send or receive files with the click of a mouse.
As for the WAM!VAN, the hulking purple semitrailer is WAM!NET's traveling exhibit, hitting the streets throughout North America to carry live demonstrations of digital connectivity, digital workflows and remote proofing applications, such as WAM!PROOF, to interested parties. If you see it on the highways, honk. You can't miss it.
By Marie Ranoia Alonso
