Pageflex

The On Demand Best of Show Awards Winners are named in nine product categories, including hardware and software.

At the awards ceremony this afternoon at the On Demand Conference & Expo, InfoTrends, a leading market research and consulting firm in the digital imaging and document solutions industry, announced the winners of the fourth annual On Demand Best of Show Awards program.

THE NAME Metzger has been elevated to rock star status in the printing industry, and with good reason. Joe Metzger can be seen frequently on the trade show/conference circuit, discussing any number of relevant industry issues. Frankly, if you can recall seeing him give more than a few talks, then feel free to count yourself among the printing realm’s cognoscente, boasting big picture perspective.

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

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—May 29, 2008—Pageflex, a division of Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS, www.bitstream.com) and a leading developer of enterprise variable data publishing and web-to-print solutions, announced today the launch of Pageflex 6.1, an enhancement of its award-winning software. Maintaining its commitment to customer-focused innovation, this new version further simplifies and enriches the design, production and measurement of effective, unique marketing campaigns. This latest upgrade will be showcased for interested viewers at drupa 2008, May 29-June 11, Düsseldorf, Germany, Hall 7a, Booth B13. In addition to demonstrations in the Pageflex booth, Pageflex will be powering customized printing, exhibiting new integrations and cross media capabilities

ROCHESTER, NY—May 19, 2008—PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative, today announced PPML Consumer Certification Programs and the first group of certified products for users of PPML (the Personalized Print Markup Language). PPML is the leading open-standard VDP (Variable Data Publishing) language for production digital printing. PPML facilitates creating personalized high-volume print campaigns by service providers, enabling meaningful one-to-one “conversations” for their customers. The addition of PPML Consumer Testing and Certification to the previously announced Producer Certification now provides independent verification that compliant products from different companies will correctly process PPML for the print service provider. Certification is traceable to a single PPML/GA test suite and

AppForum Covers Digital Print Spread LAS VEGAS—“We now have members on every continent except Antarctica,” boasted Rab Govil, president of PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative, during his keynote address at the association’s seventh annual AppForum. “Perhaps we should recruit penguins,” he mused. While the desert chill might have been suitable for the birds, the nearly 450 human attendees were kept busy indoors with the event’s ample agenda of sessions and networking opportunities. Topics of the presentations spanned the technology, business strategies and applications crucial to running a digital printing business, under the banner “A Celebration of Digital Print.” Attendees also were given an opportunity

ROCHESTER, NY—January 29, 2008—PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative, announced the 2008 winners of the annual PODi Best Practices Awards on January 29th at the AppForum digital print conference in Las Vegas. These highly anticipated awards recognize outstanding examples of digital print and variable data strategies. “Every year, the awards process gets more competitive as marketers and service providers become more proficient, creative and successful with digital print and personalization. The variety of the winning campaigns reflects new directions and opportunities for our market,” said Rab Govil, President of PODi. “It’s no surprise that the Best Practices awards presentations are a highlight of the AppForum.

HP Empowers With Print 2.0 NEW YORK—On the 52nd floor of 7 World Trade Center, more than 700 guests and 100 Hewlett-Packard employees spent two days enjoying a room with a (magnificent!) view. The event was part of HP’s rollout of the “Print 2.0: Extending the Power of Print” strategy and provided a launching pad for a new $300 million, worldwide marketing campaign—“What do you have to say?” With New York City as a backdrop, the main attractions, however, were inside where HP staged an “Experience Center.” It resembled a Hollywood set complete with a faux bedroom, living room, home office, business office, retail

Variable Data Works Magic for Disney BEING IN the printing industry, it’s hard not to have a skewed view of developments in the variable data marketing arena. The topic has received so much play, it’s easy to assume everyone has heard about this marketing technique and technology by now. Certainly, it has to be old hat for a marketing force such as Disney. Until last year, however, Disney Destinations had been sending out a generic package to anyone who contacted the company for information about booking an event at one of Disney’s five resort properties. Worse yet, there was no follow- up with these