Where the heck is Hall 4? Preparing for your Drupa adventure...

By Gail Nickel-Kailing, Senior Editor

April 27, 2004 -- For Drupa this year, WhatTheyThink.com is sending a crew of editors and contributors. With 17 buildings to cover, there is so much floor space that we may spend a week wandering around and never run into each other!

Slicing the show into manageable pieces makes it easier on us all. I drew the MIS-ERP-Production Workflow-Software slice of the pie. Whew! That makes it much smaller, right?

Wrong! Hall 4 – cozy spot that it is, will house nearly 90 companies from around the world. And Hall 4 is also the “heart” of the JDF Drupa with JDF Parc and the NGP Pavillion. Now I'll have to do a some walking to Hall 6 for PrintCity and Hall 9 for a couple of companies I want to see, but most of my focus will be in Hall 4.

So take a little stroll with me around the hall and count off more than 20 companies with whom we'll get “up close and personal.”

Adobe, Hall 4, A33, B34, B40, C40 (www.adobe.com)

Adobe and JDF? Absolutely! Adobe will be present a concept demo generating JDF-compliant files from the desktop that integrate with production and printing systems from Agfa, Creo, Dainippon-Screen, EFI, Esko-Graphics, Fujifilm Electronic Imaging, Heidelberg, and Xerox.

Agfa, Hall 4, A33, Hall 6, D27, E27 (www.agfa.com)

Delano, Agfa's web-enabled project management system, and ApogeeX prepress automation will be demonstrated in both JDF Parc and in PrintCity's hall. Delano is being used in all PrintCity print factories. Agfa is also part of the AdSML consortium establishing standards which provide the advertising industry with classified ad content that is searchable, advertisement styling standards that facilitate multiple media usage, and a vehicle for advertisers to exchange electronic business documents directly with newspapers.

Creo, Hall 4, A33, B10, B11, B22 (www.creo.com)

News Flash: Creo will be demonstrating “third party workflow” with Spire Color Servers' JDF connectivity. This is the first example of connectivity outside the Creo product line.

DALiM Software, Hall 4, A33, and Hall 9, B62 (www.dalim.com)

DALiM – the “granddaddy of JDF” – has been shipping JDF-enabled products since 2002! Look for the newest version of DALiM TwiST, a dynamically-configurable automated workflow application (a total “ground up” rebuild), and DALiM's other JDF-enabled, automated workflow management, softproofing and production management solutions.

DiMS! organizing print, Hall 9, A25 (www.dims.net)

Never a company to rest on its laurels, DiMS! will be demonstrating another upgrade (the last was launched at Graph Expo) of the DiMS! integrated ERP-print management system. A member of the NGP Partners, DiMS! is a firm believer in the value of integration standards. The company has added a papiNet interface to facilitate the exchange of information for the purchase of paper.

EFI, Hall 4, A33, B34, B40 (www.efi.com)

When you visit EFI's stands in Hall 4, you'd better bring a seatbelt! An EFI Fiery will be driving a Kodak Versamark variable data color printer at rated speeds of 2000 pages per minute. That's 120,000 pages an hour! Stand back! Of course, you won't want to miss all the JDF connections going on, including “cross vendor” connections in the CIP4 stand (A33).

Esko Graphics, Hall 4, A33, C40 (www.esko-graphics.com)

This is your chance to see Esko Graphics' Scope workflow environment in action, from CtP to JDF! Esko-Graphics is an active member of CIP4 and has JDF-enabled the Scope end-to-end supply chain management workflow system.

Graphisoft, Hall 9, C22 (www.graphisoft.fr)

You're about to hear JDF spoken with a French accent! Graphisoft, a member of CIP4 and NGP Partners, is attending its fourth drupa! Graphisoft Integrale (an MIS system) offers prepress connections to Creo, Agfa, and Esko Graphics' prepress systems, and printing connections to MAN Roland, Komori, Heidelberg, Ryobi, KBA, and Mitsubishi presses. But Graphisoft goes one step further, by fully integrating a contact management system, Graph'email, with the Integrale MIS system.

Heidelberg, Hall 4, A33 (www.heidelberg.com) - Heidelberg is Hall 1!

Heidelberg's JDF-compliant Prinect has been divided into three application-specific solution packages: Prinect Management, Prinect Production and Prinect Color Solutions. You can view digital printing integrated in an overall workflow using Prinect.

Hewlett-Packard, Hall 4, C23, D47 (www.hp.com)

It's not your old HP anymore! HP Digital Publishing Solutions has gone acronym-crazy, just like the rest of the world. HP Production Flow is a JDF-compliant integrated system that outputs PDF and PPML and automates and manages the production workflow process. HP partners demonstrating a variety of digital publishing solutions in the HP VDP Park (not to be confused with JDF Parc ) include: Printable, TripleArc, GMC, Atlas, Datalogics, TechnoDesign, and MarkzWare.

Hiflex GmbH, Hall 4, B33 (www.hiflex.com)

Hiflex, a member of CIP4 and NGP, is a JDF-compliant MIS system connecting to both prepress systems and to presses from companies such as Agfa, Creo, Esko Graphics, KBA, Komori, and MAN Roland.

Flash: Hiflex, and partners Creo, KBA, Xerox, and MBO will be producing the Drupa Daily in an integrated, cross-vendor, workflow.

MAN Roland, Hall 4, A33, and Hall 6, D57, E57 (www.man-roland.com)

MAN Roland has named this the “Integration Drupa” and welcomes JDF to the real world of print production. See MAN Roland in the JDF Parc and with PrintCity as one of the many “Factories” connected like stations in a subway network with a central “Integration Center.”

Océ, Hall 4, A33, and Hall 6, D76, D80 (www.oce.com)

Océ – “Digital Printing for Professionals” – is also a member of CIP4 and PrintCity and will be showing not just digital printers and presses, but also the PRISMA automated workflow tools.

Optichrome Computer Systems, Ltd., Hall 4, A33, and Hall 6, A61 (www.optimus2020.com)

OCSL will be playing in everyone's sandbox this year as a member of PrintCity, CIP4, AND NGP. You can see the full suite of JDF-compliant Optimus management information software in Hall 4 and Hall 6.

Printable Technologies (in HP's Stand), Hall 4, C23, D47, www.printable.com

As one of HP's partners, Printable Technologies will be demonstrating the Printable Order System in an integrated JDF-workflow. This is the On-Demand JDF Tour come to life!

Prism, Hall 4, B22 (www.prism-world.com)

In the NGP Partners Pavilion, see Prism products interconnected with other NGP partners.

Radius Solutions, Inc., Hall 4, B22 (www.radiussolutions.com)

All the way from the Windy City, Radius will be demonstrating the PECAS Vision II ERP software – JDF-compliant, of course!

Tharstern Ltd., Hall 4, B22 (www.tharstern.co.uk)

Tharstern offers a JDF-compliant Windows-based print management information systems for litho, continuous, labels, digital, repro, finishing, screen and flexo printers. You can also see Tharstern's complete e-commerce suite.

Vio Worldwide Limited, Hall 4, A05, A33 (www.vio.com)

Vio and Markzware will showcase a solution based on Markzware's FlightCheck Online technology. The solution enables prepress personnel, printers, publishers or any organization who receive a high volume of digital files to check digital files against a customized set of preflight rules defined by the recipient. The sender is automatically notified of errors and required corrections before the job is submitted into the prepress workflow. Don't miss Vio and Markzware in the JDF Parc.

WAM!NET, Hall 4, A33 (www.wamnet.com)

WAM!NET, a division of SAVVIS Communications, will demonstrate its new JDF solution for automated digital content distribution - WAM!NET Direct! JDF - in the CIP4 JDF Parc and in the NGP stand.

Xerox, Hall 4, A33, and Hall 13, A73, D91 (www.xerox.com)

In the JDF Parc you can see Xerox' JDF-enabled FreeFlow automated digital workflow that works with a common set of electronic instructions to direct a job from creation and ordering to fulfillment and distribution.

You will notice that a number of these companies seem to be in the same stand. Well, yes and no. Actually, there are three key interconnectivity initiatives and marketing organizations of interest where companies are grouped together:

•  PrintCity has taken the entire Hall 6 - 16,000 square meters - the largest hall at Drupa 2004 (10% of the total floor space). There are 58 PrintCity members or associates located in this hall.

•  CIP4 JDF Parc is located in Hall 4, Stand A33, where 20 companies, organized into 18 “pods,” will demonstrate interoperability between a variety of JDF-enabled products.

•  NGP Partners Pavilion is in Hall 4 as well, Stand B22, where there will be more than 30 partners demonstrating over 40 system-to-system JDF integrations.

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