New architecture for Creo Color front ends (21.01.08)

Kodak Print on Demand Solutions Group will introduce a new generation digital front end architecture for its Creo Color Server range at Drupa, to be called Nuevo Technology.

The Creo Color Servers are front ends for digital production printers and compete with the EFI Fiery range – many printer manufacturers offer both Creo and EFI options.

Nuevo Technology has a new scaleable and parallel RIP architecture to manage variable print jobs and drive them up to 1,000 ppm. This will allow increased speed and performance for high volume users, with scaleability, advanced functionality, parallel operations, advanced batch editing solutions, and process automation. It has IPDS support for variable data printing, and high quality colour management.

“This technology is capable of driving Kodak’s high speed digital presses and addresses high production markets, such as transpromo, photo rich applications and direct mail,” said Ilana Jucha, general manager of PODS Group. “We will show 10 times improvement in performance at Drupa.”

By ‘photo rich applications,” she means photo album printing, a growing application worldwide for digital colour production printers. This presents intensive processing challenge to front ends, as photo albums contain a lot of high resolution colour images, but are often only printed in single or a handful of copies.

Nuevo Technology is also intended for direct mail print providers, who use variable data printing (VDP), with built-in IPDS upport. Kodak says it provides “premium connectivity to VDP authoring tools and composition engines.” There’s an embedded VDP composition engine and predefined templates that are intended for newcomers to variable data, and an upgrade path to advanced functions.

There will be “premium connectivity” to Kodak’s Unified Workflow solutions such as Prinergy (pre-press workflow) and InSite (Kodak’s production and web-to-print software brand). The PODS Group also has a Workflow Partnership Program based on JDF open standard connectivity to third party workflows. Currently these include systems such as Apago, DirectSmile, Konica Minolta, Pageflex, Press-Sense, Printshop Mail, XMPie, Xralle and others. New integrations will be announced at Drupa, Kodak says.

The Creo Color Server products are only sold through OEM printer manufacturers, which integrate them into their product lines. Some of these OEMs compete with the Kodak-owned NexPress digital printer operation, wch explains why Kodak maintains PODS Group as an independent business unit with ‘firewalls’ separating it from the rest of Kodak operations. It also explains the retention of the Creo name on the actual product line.

Kodak expects printer manufacturers to start delivering Nuevo Technology architecture in their DFEs later this year. At present these OEMs include HP, IKON, Konica Minolta, and Xerox. Naturally enough, Kodak’s Nexpress operation also offers Creo Colour Servers for its colour and mono prodution printers.

At Kodak’s Drupa press conference Judi Hess, general manager of Enterprise Solutions for Kodak GCG, said that in future Kodak would “standardise” on the Creo DFEs. This implies, though she did not quite confirm it, that the mono and colour production machines will drop their EFI options eventually.

Contact: www.pod-wf.com

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