Software - Web-to-print

GHENT BELGIUM—July 21, 2008—Access to the comprehensive, best practice workflow specifications and resources are now easier than ever for printers, prepress professionals and designers as The Ghent Workgroup (GWG) unveils its newly streamlined, fast website, www.gwg.org. In addition the GWG, the international cross-section of PDF and print experts known for creating, testing, and releasing specifications and best practices that have been proven to make it easier for users to ensure PDF document quality across workflows around the world; announces newly elected officers to its executive committee. The www.gwg.org Website The latest version of the website has been completely revamped to address the expanding population

DRUPA’S STANDING as an international printing exhibition makes it the place to see the course of technological development in the industry laid out for the next four years. As even the following press and postpress wrap-up stories note, digital printing technology had its strongest showing yet. Even the developments in digital workflow were muted by comparison. Many of the product introductions were already covered in one of the Drupa Countdown stories published in editions of Printing Impressions leading up to the show. Therefore, this wrap-up will primarily focus on what was new in Düsseldorf. The event lived up to its billing as The Ink-Jet

CENTREVILLE, VA—June 24, 2008—Global Graphics SA (NYSE-Euronext: GLOG) has appointed Gary Fry, formerly the managing director of Adobe Systems Benelux, as chief executive officer. Fry (39) replaces Jim Freidah who has resigned from the Company’s board of directors having served as chief executive officer since April 2007 and chief operating officer since July 1999. During his early period as chief operating office, Freidah steered the company through a series of strategic acquisitions to strengthen the company’s product portfolio, notably in digital print and PDF document technologies. Subsequently he transformed the Company into the streamlined organization it is today. Fry will

GENT, BELGIUM—June 12, 2008—EskoArtwork reports that the company registered successes throughout its entire product portfolio and that drupa 2008 far exceeded all business forecasts. Carsten Knudsen, EskoArtwork’s President and CEO, acknowledges EskoArtwork’s satisfaction with its drupa 2008 results: “With packaging and printing being a global business and EskoArtwork being a global company, drupa was the perfect and unique industry platform to connect with our customers and partners. At this year’s edition the interest in our range of solutions was significant, especially for our packaging tools, flexo platesetting systems, and commercial print workflows and solutions for digital printing and converting. EskoArtwork’s drupa 2008 orders exceeded

MORTSEL, BELGIUM—June 12, 2008—Agfa Graphics today announced that the 2008 edition of the four-yearly drupa printing trade fair has been a great success. The company’s stylish stand caught the eye of the crowds and its innovative solutions met with general approval from numerous print professionals. As a result, Agfa Graphics reported a solid order intake for both the prepress and the industrial inkjet segment. Strong order intake at the drupa show Agfa Graphics signed contracts in excess of 100 million Euro (including the first year of consumable contracts), reflecting the strong interest in its innovative portfolio of market leading products. The attention of

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—June 11, 2008—Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eastman Kodak Co., launched drupa with the emphatic statement “We’ll change print forever.” As the show closed after 14 action packed days, Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group (GCG) concluded a hugely successful event, taking hundreds of orders, delivering thousands of demonstrations, logging in excess of 10,000 qualified leads, and exceeding the company’s aggressive goals at its 2008 drupa debut. “If this is remembered as the inkjet drupa, then Kodak will be at the heart of it with our unique and innovative Stream Inkjet Technology, which delivers offset class output and which we demonstrated to

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—06/12/2008—On the last day of the drupa trade show, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is encouraged by the result of the event. “At this point, of course, we can only give our first impressions of how drupa has progressed so far. We will only be able to say with certainty how the interest shown by buyers ultimately translates into real orders and whether it generates actual sales when we publish information on the first quarter at the start of August. I can say, however, that we have so far met our expectations,” declares Bernhard Schreier, Chief Executive Officer at Heidelberg. Customers from 85 different

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY/MONTREAL, CANADA—June 2, 2008—With great regret Ultimate announces the loss of its president and founder, David Watson. David passed away after having a serious heart attack. Respected by the entire industry, David had already conducted a compass session at what was his 5th drupa. He was delighted to celebrate his company’s 20th anniversary there. Ultimate would like to thank the people that have given support and shown their sympathy. While their thoughts are with David’s family the Ultimate team expresses its determination to continue to revolutionize digital imposition based on the vision David had set out. With the mission to computerize

RESTON, VA— June 4, 2008—A committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is currently drafting an international standard that will define a variable data printing (VDP) job exchange format.  ISO 16612-2 (PDF/VT) will specify how to use the Portable Document Format (PDF) to define and exchange all content elements and supporting metadata to produce predictable output for variable or transactional document content. PDF/VT (“V” for “Variable” and “T” for “Transactional”) is designed to enable VDP in a variety of environments, from desktop printing to digital production presses, and to accommodate linkages for content, such as TransPromo applications, which combine color promotional content with transactional information.  PDF/VT is a modern PDF

Kodak Users Get the Real Deal LAS VEGAS—More than 300 members of the Graphic Users Association (GUA) of Kodak Solutions recently gathered at the Wynn Las Vegas for the North American group’s annual meeting. “This year’s conference was our biggest and best yet,” said current GUA President Tom Clifford, who is also a prepress technology specialist with RR Donnelley. Having “unfiltered access to executives and product specialists from Kodak” is a key benefit of attending the event, Clifford noted. “Most important, the team from Kodak. . .genuinely listens to our feedback and takes it into consideration when developing new products and features.” He also