Hewlett-Packard

At Presstek Inc., John Dreyer has been appointed lead director of the company's board of directors. Dreyer has been a member of Presstek's board of directors since 1996. He retired as chairman and CEO of the Pitman Co. in December 2000. Mohawk Paper Mills has named Thomas O'Connor Jr. chairman and CEO. Prior to this appointment, O'Connor was president and CEO. He represents a third generation of the O'Connor family closely identified with the family owned business. Michael Swack is the new public relations/analyst relations manager for the graphics market at Hewlett-Packard. He is now responsible for HP Indigo, HP Designjets, as well as MFP and

Adobe Suite Offers Second Take on Integration SAN JOSE, CA—The new version of Adobe Systems' Creative Suite (called CS2) is one of the most rich and featured-packed upgrades in recent memory. This is due to a move the company made about 18 months ago to dramatically change its approach to upgrading its key creative products—Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and GoLive. Instead of rolling out a hodge-podge of individual product updates, Adobe decided to align the product development schedules and release all application updates simultaneously. The reason for this new approach was not to simplify management of upgrades—neither for Adobe, nor its customers (although

Banta to Sell Healthcare Group MENASHA, WI—Banta Corp. has reached an agreement to sell the assets of single-use healthcare products subsidiary Banta Healthcare Group to an affiliate of Fidelity Capital Investors for $67 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. Fidelity is a private equity investment division of Boston-based Fidelity Strategic Investments. In a separate deal related to the divestiture, Banta sold its warehouse in Rialto, CA, to a California real estate investment company for $7 million. Phoenix Color Closes Division CHICAGO—Phoenix Color has authorized the closure of its Book Technology Park division and the sale of its

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor It’s been more than a decade since the first high-volume, modern digital color printing systems were introduced. Heidelberg and Presstek teamed up to launch the digital offset (GTO DI, in this case) product category in 1991. A few years later, the Indigo EPrint and Agfa/Xeikon Chromapress ushered in the era of the all-digital production color printing systems. In the future, though, 2004 may be looked back upon as a key transition period in the maturation of digital printing as a business segment—both on the vendor and user side. No fundamentally new technologies were unveiled, but all the vendors

Colter & Peterson and MBO America are now co-distributors of Wohlenberg paper cutters and cutting systems for the U.S. market. Specifically, the cooperative agreement will allow technical experts and sales personnel from both companies to confer with each other on how Wohlenberg cutters can best enhance the efficiency and productivity for printers and trade finishers looking to upgrade their operations. Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Print Media presented the Cary Award to Frank Steenburgh, senior vice president for business growth, Production Systems Group at Xerox Corp. during a breakfast at Graph Expo 2004. The Cary Award is presented annually to those who have

Pittsburgh, PA--July 23, 2004--PIA/ GATF is pleased to announce 13 recipients of the 2004 GATF InterTech Technology Awards. A panel of independent judges chose this year's recipients from a roster of 33 submissions. Once again, GATF 's InterTech Technology Award recipients reflect a unique cross-section of industry innovations, from consumables like blankets, paper and plates to a classification system for folding and software that enhances the design process while reducing file size. "The 2004 awards show that even small companies can develop a highly innovative technology deserving of an InterTech Award," says PIA/GATF Research Director John Lind. Although the digitization of

by Dennis E. Mason The just-finished Drupa 2004 in Germany was unquestionably the most comprehensive graphic arts trade show in the world. Nowhere else but every four years in Düsseldorf can one see the breadth and depth of equipment, supplies, software and processes on display for two weeks. Although Drupas are dominated by the likes of Heidelberg, MAN Roland and KBA, with their particularly press-centric focus, it also provides a forum for companies that are far less well known, and for firms that only wish to be known. And while many journey to Drupa to see the latest in presses, or a complete

On Demand Closes Doors on Its New York City Run NEW YORK—Two surprises awaited exhibitors and attendees at the recent 2004 On Demand Conference & Exposition. Unfortunately, they both related to the event itself. On the first day, word spread of a change in location and timing for the next installment of the industry forum, which is scheduled to be held May 17-19, 2005, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the heart of Philadelphia. There was no formal announcement, so most exhibitors first learned of the move when they were approached about reserving a booth for the 2005 show. The second surprise awaited attendees

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor The line of demarcation between a copier and printer was the first to fall. Now it's not uncommon for devices with similar capabilities to be called printers or presses, depending on who's doing the naming. And, markedly different machines—such as all-digital and digital offset systems—may be labeled as digital presses, or the ubiquitous production systems. The upshot is that it has become very difficult to neatly define what products should be included in an update on the state-of-the-art in digital printing. Therefore, what follows is a look at some, if not all, of the recent major developments in the

Pantone Extends Brand Into Ink-jet Consumables CARLSTADT, NJ—Pantone Inc. is making a bid to expand the application of its color expertise by launching the PANTONE ColorVantage family of premium ink-jet inks, papers and specially developed profiles. The company initially intends to focus on the wide-format printing segment, and piezo-electric engines specifically, informs Andrew Hatkoff, vice president, Electronic Color Systems. Working in partnership with a third-party supplier, Pantone has developed a pigmented ink set (specially formulated CMYK plus light cyan and magenta) with a significantly larger color gamut than that offered by standard OEM inks, Hatkoff claims. Anticipating a potential concern, he adds that the