...From Frank’s On Demand Notebook

Video: See Frank deliver the keynote speech at the EDSF luncheon at On Demand

By Frank Romano

April 20, 2007 -- The AIIM On Demand show is a good microcosm of the digital printing market and all the sub markets that support it. The weather was wet and generally miserable, but the crowds were dry, and generally upbeat.

The On Demand seminar sessions had no handouts in paper form; yet, I counted 37 printers  or copier/printers on the floor of the show that could have produced them. Such is one of the ironies of the AIIM On Demand show that just ended.

There were six systems that converted microfilm to digital files so as to make the information available in electronic form. In time the microfilm will be discarded and then, further in time, someone will realize that they want the information to be archival and systems will re-image the content to microfilm.

Physical storage media like paper and film are disappearing as systems convert old media to new media. But the world of electronic storage keeps changing and the future will find us with legacy disks and cards and whatever that no one will be able to read. Don’t believe me? Here’s a Syquest disk from 1999 -- read it!

The battle of the “flows” -- Xerox has FreeFlow, Screen has TrueFlow, Kodak has Color Flow, and Press-Sense has Business Flow. If you are in the know, you have knowledge, so I guess if you are in the flow, you have flowage. Workflow is everything and exhibitors have lots to see. But demonstrating workflow is still a challenge.

Kodak introduced two new digital color printers, one at 70 ppm and one at 100 ppm. Xerox had a new 60 ppm color printer. The Kodak 70 ppm is almost the same as the Canon 70 ppm except for the front end and Kodak’s Operator Replaceable Components. So far there is no Operator Replaceable Operator.

Kodak introduced a 100 ppm NexPress aimed squarely at the 110 ppm Xerox iGen3. Xerox had a new 60 ppm color printer.

Kodak had the best press conference and Xerox had the best party. On demand photo books were noted to be the hottest market.

AIIM had better bags than On Demand and the On Demand press room was a disaster. Questex, the show manager, is still learning how to run trade shows.

There were 67 signs that said “solutions” which means there are now more solutions than problems and, in fact, solutions may be the problem. I would have been drawn to anyone who said “the solution to solutions.”

Junk mail is junk mail whether personalized or not, and personalized junk mail is punk.

We are now in a 24/7 global economy and a print buyer, printer, and the recipient of the printing may be anywhere on the planet. The Internet connects us all, except if you were at the Boston Convention Center where the wireless connection did not work very well.

Some vendors are hyping automatic color control and pre-press-less workflows. These were the same people who told us that JDF would solve all our problems.

Overall, I think exhibitors, attendees, media, analysts, and the occasional lost Boston marathoner did well -- which is good for the industry and bodes well for Graph Expo in September.

What do you think? Please send feedback to Frank by e-mailing him at fxrppr@rit.edu

Frank Romano has spent over 40 years in the printing and publishing industries. Many know him best as the editor of the International Paper Pocket Pal or from the hundreds of articles he has written for publications from North America and Europe to the Middle East to Asia and Australia.

He is the author of over 44 books, including the 10,000-term Encyclopedia of Graphic Communications (with Richard Romano), the standard reference in the field. His books on QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, and PDF workflow were among the first in their fields. He has authored most of the books on digital printing. His latest book is the 800-page textbook for Moscow State University.

He has founded eight publications, serving as publisher or editor for TypeWorld/Electronic Publishing (which ended in its 30th year of publication), Computer Artist, Color Publishing, The Typographer, EP&P, and both the NCPA and PrintRIT Journals. His columns appear monthly in the Digital Printing Report. He is the editor of the EDSF Report.

Romano lectures extensively, having addressed virtually every club, association, group, and professional organization at one time or another. He is one of the industry's foremost keynote speakers.

He has consulted for major corporations, publishers, government, and other users of digital printing and publishing technology. He wrote the first report on on-demand digital printing in 1980 and ran the first conference on the subject in 1985. He has conceptualized many of the workflow and applications techniques of the industry and was the principal researcher on the landmark EDSF study, Printing in the Age of the Web and Beyond.

He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, USA Today, Business Week, Forbes, and many other newspapers and publications, as well as on TV and radio. He has partnered with InfoTrends on strategic information for the printing industry.

He continues to teach courses at RIT and other universities and works with students on unique research projects.