ONYX Graphics Joins Initiative to Bring JDF Standards to Wide Format Printing

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- ONYX Graphics, Inc. has joined forces with industry leaders to define open Job Definition Format (JDF) standards for the wide format printing market. JDF is a technical interface standard developed for and by the graphic arts industry to facilitate cross-vendor print workflows.

"Today, our customers maximize productivity and quality using ONYX® Quickset automation and software tools available in every ONYX RIP product," said Danielle Mattiussi, Director of Product Portfolio and Business Development at ONYX Graphics. "JDF further enhances our automation capabilities by extending our connectivity to other JDF-enabled products. This digital job ticket can now be shared between systems automatically, reducing the manual intervention that is required to move a job through the shop. It minimizes the expense associated with errors, increasing reliability and ultimately leading to higher quality. We are excited to be a part of the JDF initiative as it gains momentum in the wide format market."

This initiative, under the guidance of the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) is chaired by HP, which introduced a new certification program that enables alliance partners' workflow products – including those from ONYX Graphics – to be "HP Certified for Wide Format Printing JDF Exchange." The initiative is designed to resolve interoperability shortfalls between web-to-print tools, production devices, raster image processors and digital front ends so that they work together to streamline wide format printing workflows for increased productivity. ONYX Graphics is among the first alliance partners to achieve certification through the program. This enables wide format print providers using ONYX Graphics production software products to take advantage of automation tools that reduce costs and differentiate their service offerings.

ONYX Graphics has also joined the CIP4 workgroup and will release certified JDF workflow interfaces for its various production workflow products, starting with an update to ONYX ProductionHouse™ software Version X10 early next year.

ONYX Graphics has worked closely with other JDF alliance partners including Cyrious Software, a leading provider of estimating and business management software, to increase automation of job submission and business information. "Cyrious is very pleased to be working with ONYX Graphics, HP and the other certified JDF partners in what is a natural next step for increasing productivity and profitability," said Cyrious co-CEO Charlie Carter. "Being able to exchange information between Cyrious Control, ONYX RIPs and the other JDF certified equipment and systems will sharpen the accuracy of estimating profitability, increase the visibility and manageability of work-in-process in production, and reduce costly errors."

About JDF

Initiated by Adobe Systems, Agfa, Heidelberg and MAN Roland, JDF was handed over to CIP4 in 2004. While the initial focus was on sheet-fed offset and narrow-format digital print workflow, it expanded to encompass roll-fed systems, newspaper workflows, and packaging and label workflows. This new initiative aims to bring JDF to large format print providers to help them deliver new levels of efficiency and productivity. JDF provides a standard set of pre-defined data interface points between systems that connect workflow steps from creation, pre-press, production, finishing, and distribution to printing, archiving and reprinting of documents.

About ONYX Graphics

ONYX Graphics, Inc. helps companies improve their bottom line results by reducing printing costs and increasing productivity. ONYX Graphics develops and markets commercial printing software and solutions for the digital color printing marketplace. By combining color science, image processing and print production knowledge, ONYX Graphics delivers powerful, reliable printing workflow solutions.

"ONYX" and the ONYX logo are registered trademarks, and "ONYX ProductionHouse" is a trademark, of ONYX Graphics, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks and are the property of their owners and are respectfully acknowledged.

Listing information for this release:

ONYX Graphics, Inc.

6915 South High Tech Drive

Salt Lake City, UT 94047 USA

Tel 800-828-0723

International/Local +1.801-568-9900

Fax 801-568-9911

email [email protected]

web www.onyxgfx.com

SOURCE ONYX Graphics, Inc.