Software - Web-to-print

No longer a boring storage selection, today's RAID solutions are showing RAID, too, can be a glitzy technology with complex, surprising powers. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Since an explosion of digital connectivity, asset management and electronic prepress technologies hit the printing industry like a Hollywood blockbuster comet, terms such as megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes and now even petabytes—all used to describe the size of digital storage needs—have filtered into the printing atmosphere. A logical phenomena. In the ever-dawning age of electronic prepress, functions such as RIPing a massive file, digitally archiving a file, or executing production of that file through applications like OPI and CTP

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The latest installment of Printing Impressions' year-long report on CIP3 initiatives visits Vancouver, Canada-based thermal imaging innovator Creo Products, recently awarded a GATF InterTech Award for PrintLink, Creo's digital ink key preset software that boosts operational efficiency by bringing CIP3 into the picture. Beyond its role as a thermal imaging technology innovator, Creo is a member of the CIP3 consortium that developed the industry standard for exchanging information between print production devices. At Creo, CIP3 is PrintLink. How does PrintLink link? PrintLink generates CIP3-compliant Print Production Format (PPF) files during platemaking that define ink coverage on a plate precisely. PrintLink delivers these files via

If repurposing digital content from a catalog or brochure to a dynamic Internet site is part of your average day at the office, you better get your fill on Java! BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Java junkies say the appeal of Java applications is that they are easy to distribute across networks and can run on any computer platform. Some proponents believe the adoption of Java will jog a move to the network computer. Others predict Java will play a bigger role than originally anticipated in the management and delivery of content over the World Wide Web. Why does Java matter? Since its introduction three-plus

Take a moment and ask yourself this question: What impact will the World Wide Web have on the printing industry in the next five years? I'm going to guess what answer you gave. You're probably thinking that the impact will not be large. You're not denying that the Internet will influence many other industries, but there's just not much evidence that it's going to have a big impact on print. That's certainly what I've been thinking—up until now. The impact of the World Wide Web on printers has indeed been very slight thus far. In the last two years, about half of all printing companies have created

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Remote proofing may be the ultimate form of collaboration between client and printer—each reviewing a proof rendered at separate locations, thanks to technological advances in color management software, digital proofing devices and digital file delivery services. The benefits of adding remote proofing to a printing organization—outputting less film, buying less chemicals, avoiding shipping costs and time-consuming review periods—seem to position remote proofing as the logical direction for the contract proofing process. So why aren't more prepress firms and commercial printing organizations rushing to add a digital proofer and team that digital proofing device with digital file transfer

Ed Driscoll, CEO of WAM!NET, talks about 4-Sight's better-than-anticipated integration (despite some amusing cultural glitches), what the file transfer giant's plans are for digital asset archiving, why he can't wait to take on healthy competition and how come the Internet is so darn neato!!! BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO It takes energy to talk to a man like Ed Driscoll: He's funny, he's hyper, he's quick to talk about almost anything, he gets off the track with a joke or two, he even tries to trick you (if you allow him), and this is all in good fun. Despite his every inclination, Driscoll can become very serious

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Asset management is a field which, in a few years time, the industry might refer to as one that virtually exploded onto the scene and introduced a surplus of young technology providers and tools to a marketplace that was, in many ways, still figuring out exactly what it wanted to do with its digital assets. There are easily more than 75 asset managers currently positioned firmly in the graphic arts. Some cater specifically to digital assets in a variety of commercial prepress departments, some focus strictly on catalog production, some on manipulation of content in large-scale newspapers and others offer

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO In this latest installment in Printing Impressions' yearlong CIP3 focus, BARCO Graphics reports on its company's push to digitize ink key settings—even before Heidelberg's spearheading of CIP3—and the attributes of InkPlanner, an option on BARCO's FASTRIP/B. Cutting costs. During press makereadies, valuable production time and paper are often wasted. Likewise, ink is an important cost factor in any commercial printing environment. Control over paper and control over ink are goals of every printer, especially those printing operations pursuing CIP3. An early member of the CIP3 consortium, BARCO Graphics recognized the need for tighter control over all consumables within the production environment. More specifically,

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO When it comes to the task of imposition, prepress managers are looking for integrated solutions—tools that can allow the adoption of an all-digital CTP environment. Why? The technological enhancement of digital imposition software, large-format computer-to-film devices and new launches in the CTP market have put greater emphasis on the role electronic imposition plays in moving to an all-digital domain. Factors encouraging new launches of imposition software encompass movements from in-RIP trapping, to the utilization of Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) and Adobe PostScript 3, to full-scale automation the likes of CIP3. In more detail, catalysts for imposition software tools include the following

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The seventh installment of Printing Impressions' ongoing focus on CIP3 visits ScriptWorks RIP manufacturer Harlequin, an early member of the CIP3 consortium. Currently in the final stages of beta testing a plug-in for CIP3's Print Production Format (PPF), Harlequin is working with its team of leading prepress OEMs to navigate the cutting edge of CIP3 developments. FACT: NO longer are components of a prepress environment expected to work as an independent module of a commercial printing operation. Instead, the electronic prepress department is called upon, more and more, to function as the first leg of an advanced digital journey that ends