Xerox Corp.

Do you remember my November column? Or is that like asking if you recall the last time you stubbed your toe? Well, just in case my golden words aren't etched in your memory, I wrote about a new print market generated by totally automated, e-commerce, short-run color printing. Let me refresh your memory by retelling the scenario that I related in the November column. The real estate agent logs onto the Website of her favorite printer and easily fills out the quick quote form that mostly consists of check boxes. She gets an instant quote, which she accepts. The quote, along with some

BY MARK SMITH Offering the whole kit and caboodle of services to the demanding software/high-tech industry is the stock and trade of GlobalWare Solutions in Haverhill, MA. It can be a high-pressure business. With software releases, developers are always trying to do one last bug check or tweak of the code before the CDs are duplicated, manuals printed and product boxes assembled. If it's a major release, anxious buyers have been known to line up at midnight at local computer stores to be the first to get their hands on the product. So the shipments have to be on time. The need for quick turnaround puts

BY MARK SMITH Mining the rich potential of variable-data printing has proven to be tougher going than early assays may have indicated. The biggest obstacles have been, and continue to be, inadequate customer data gathering on the part of potential users and/or limited understanding of how to capitalize on such information. Early on it became apparent that selling and executing variable-data work required direct interaction with marketing types. Trying to go through the normal channels—i.e., print buyers and even creatives, to an extent—wasn't effective. The right place to start is with the marketing goals of the organization, not the capabilities of the process.

BY CHRIS BAUER The reasons the management team at New Haven, CT-based Phoenix Press decided to move to digital printing were twofold. First, they found many customers were ordering smaller volumes that were better suited for print-on-demand methods. Second, they believe digital printing will play a key role in the future of the graphic arts industry by introducing new capabilities and new services—such as variable-data printing. The result of their findings and beliefs was the purchase of a Heidelberg Digimaster 9110, a Canon CLC 1000, Canon imageRUNNER 600 and 400, and DankaWare software—all supplied by Danka Business Systems. The new equipment is

Variable-data printing has been championed by some as the future of the graphic arts industry, and derided by others with charges of being a white elephant. Even though it is a distinct market subset with unique characteristics, variable-data printing's standing has shared the fortunes and misfortunes of the broader digital printing market and technology.

Now there is a color digital production press to suit every printer's desire. Is it time to throw your hat in the ring? BY CAROLINE MILLER Color digital press manufacturers are setting their sights on the commercial printer. No longer is digital printing just for the on-demand and quick printing market segments; it has finally matured to the point where commercial printers can begin to seriously consider integrating these output devices into their business strategy. Today, digital presses offer print quality that is close to offset quality. The mix of improved quality, coupled with quick turnaround, speed and flexibility, is a recipe that

Marching Off to On Demand and VUE/Point NEW YORK—The On Demand 2001 conference and exposition is slated to run at New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center from February 28 to March 2. Over the course of the event, corporate printing professionals reportedly will learn about improving customer relationship management (CRM), increasing response rates with 1:1 marketing, outsourcing successfully and lowering costs while driving sales. Print-for-profit professionals will gain insight into the best migration strategies, the newest technology, what the competition is doing, as well as what corporate customers want next. The event managers have announced the addition of two more keynote sessions: "e-Printing

BY CHRIS BAUER Maybe, just maybe, commercial printing continues to be too traditional of an industry. Color jobs, even those that are short runs, often will still be directed through the sheetfed offset press department. Film is produced, plates are made and the presses have to be makereadied. Then we wait for the job to dry and send it to the bindery. Meanwhile, color copiers are waiting in the wings, sneaking a peek at short-run jobs traditionally sent to those offset presses. Copier vendors say that their products are best suited to take on those fast-turnaround jobs that are still being routed to the

A Digital Evangelist FRANK SCOTT has managed to become one of the graphic arts industry's recognized authorities on digital ad delivery, while still keeping up with the demands of his work for Time Inc. As director of digital development, Scott was part of the team that converted Time's New York-based magazines to computer-to-plate production and established its partnership program to solicit ads in digital format. After working for more than 20 years on the publishing side of the industry, Scott has moved onto new challenges by joining the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) staff as vice president and director of research. Since this is

At the recent book fair in Frankfurt, Germany, it was announced that there would be a $100,000 prize for the best new e-book. Quite a tidy sum—and especially nice odds for authors, given the dearth of books published only in electronic format. Yet, with only 80,000 viewers/readers currently in consumers' hands, e-books are currently struggling to gain acceptance. Not only are there few viewers, but the existing technologies have a long way to go to challenge printed books in terms of quality, navigation and ease of use. Screens are small and the displays, which are based on projected light, are not easy to read