The Seybold Report on Publishing Systems articles from February 2000

The Seybold Report on Publishing Systems archives from February 2000

The Y2K Aftermath: Survival of Newspapers in the New Century.(Industry Trend or Event)
February 14, 2000... THE YEAR 2000! We finally got there and it appears our systems have come through the ordeal relatively unscathed. The Y2K bug didn't close us down and we all seem to be working well as we move into the New Year. For most newspapers, the...

Screen Targets New Markets: PDF Workflow, DocuTech Printing.
February 14, 2000... DAINIPPON SCREEN, known in the industry by the name Screen, is one of the largest players in the electronic prepress market. In fact, according to some estimates, it may be the largest such player. In 1999, Agfa published some estimates of...

Press Developments.(Screen's TruePress 544)(Product Information)
February 14, 2000... At Ipex in 1998, Screen moved into the field of digital imaging presses with the announcement of its TruePress 544. Now the line is expanding with a new model. In addition, Screen is entering the high-speed monochrome printing market with a...

How to Interpret the Workflow Diagram on Page 3.
February 14, 2000... This article is part of a series that began more than two years ago (see Vol. 27, No. 3) with an overview of workflow issues and continued with detailed descriptions of specific workflow products. The most recent one, in our last issue,...

Drupa Prelude - Plates and Platesetters: Rapid Change to Continue at Drupa.(Industry Trend or Event)
February 14, 2000... DRAMATIC CHANGES are taking place in the technology of lasers and plates for CTP. Thermal plates are evolving, and new CTP systems for conventional plates are appearing. By the time Drupa arrives in May, the CTP market may look quite...

Processless Plates: How Long Are You Willing to Wait?
February 14, 2000... With the introduction of thermal plates, there was a lot of hype surrounding the possibility of "processless" plates, which would mean no further chemical processing would be needed after imaging the plate. Nearly five years have passed since...

Drupa Prelude - New Plates to Highlight Kodak Polychrome Graphics Display.(Company Business and Marketing)
February 14, 2000... IN A BRIEFING for printing industry journalists on Jan. 28 in Geneva, Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) previewed the new products it will exhibit at Drupa in May. In preliminary remarks, CEO Mark W. Stewart stated that the company had been...

New firm offers metal platesetter for $10,000.(Print Imaging Sciences)(Product Announcement)
February 14, 2000... Modified Epson printer, software RIP Epson printers have marched methodically to preeminent positions in the desktop printing, color proofing and large-format sign markets. The next stop may be imaging metal plates. Such a device is...

Cascade's acquisition of Pindar called off.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... The proposed merger of Cascade Systems (now called Media-Bridge) and the Pindar Systems division of Pindar of the UK has been called off. The two parties, which had hoped to conclude the negotiations in January, were unable to reach a...

Ford replaces Lane at Prepress Solutions.(Tony Ford)(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Tony Ford, who previously headed the Hyphen U.S. and HighWater Designs operations, has replaced Stephen Lane in the top post at Prepress Solutions. Ford, whose title is senior VP and general manager, also has assumed responsibility as chief...

Creo, Prograph form E-commerce venture.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Creo Products and Prograph Systems have agreed to form a new company offering an Internet-based commerce system for the graphic arts industry. Creo will invest $25 million in the new company, called PrintCafe, in exchange for an equity...

Agfa sells Chromapress business to Xeikon - Agfa's share of Xeikon increased to 25%.(Company Business and Marketing)
February 14, 2000... Agfa and Xeikon have signed a memorandum of understanding under which Agfa's Digital Printing Systems business, which is primarily the Chromapress development, will be sold to Xeikon in a stock transaction. In the deal, Agfa's ownership of...

Changes in Xeikon Board.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Xeikon has announced that three new members have agreed to join its Board of Directors. They fill vacancies created by the departures of Antoon Van Petegem, Walter Dilewyns, Herman Remmerie and Barton Faber. (These appointments are separate...

Spencer In, Paige Out at Agfa's Prepress Unit.(Russell Spencer)(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Russell Spencer, a longtime executive in Agfa's customer service area, has been named general manager of Agfa's Electronic Prepress Products (EPP) organization. He replaces Michael Paige, who is expected to remain with the company in a new...

Creo pledges to keep Scitex product lines - As $537-million deal moves forward.(Scitex has agreed to sell its prepress business to Creo Products)(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... As we reported in a special bulletin mailed with our last issue, Scitex has agreed to sell its prepress business to Creo Products in a stock transaction valued at $537 million (see sidebar for a recap). Included in the deal are Scitex's Lotem...

Scitex gets 13% interest in Internet imaging firm - Seybold Seminar debut for online proofs.(RealTimeImage)(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Fulfilling an objective of its new strategy following the sale of its prepress business, Scitex has made an investment in RealTimeImage, the developer of the RenderView imaging software that Scitex has been selling for Internet applications....

Recapping the Details - For readers who missed the details of the impending transaction, here is a recap.(Creo products; Scitex)
February 14, 2000... Under the terms of the deal, Creo will acquire the Scitex assets in exchange for 13.25 million Creo shares. Upon completion of the deal, pending approval of Creo shareholders in March, Scitex will become a major shareholder in Creo, with...

Creo/Scitex: The Real Reasons Behind the Deal.(Creo Products)
February 14, 2000... The recent agreement under which Creo will acquire the prepress business of Scitex has surprised most people in the industry. The surprise concerns the reasons for the acquisition and the value to be paid by Creo for Scitex. What we have are...

Lyra studies future role of paper and printing - Notes from the Imaging Symposium.(Industry Trend or Event)
February 14, 2000... The printing industry is in trouble, and maybe the papermaking industry is too. The Internet is already causing some pain, and better notebook computers (starting this year) and E-paper (in 3-5 years) are really going to put the pressure on....

T/R raises $30 million in IPO.(T/R Systems)(Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... T/R Systems, the developer of the MicroPress cluster printing system, raised $30 million in an initial public offering of 3 million shares on Jan. 26 (NASDAQ symbol: TRSI). The shares, which were priced at $10, opened at 19.75 and reached a...

Impresse files for IPO.(Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Impresse, which runs an E-commerce service for handling printing jobs, has filed to raise $65 million in an initial public offering. The company will use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes. Neither the number of...

Collabria raises $46 million.(Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Collabria, the online print service provider, has secured more than $46 million in investment funding. The funds will be used to continue development and to increase sales and marketing. Leading this round of funding is ABS Ventures, with...

ArtQuest gets $4.5 million.(Company Financial Information)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... ArtQuest, the developer of a suite of workflow modules, has received $4.5 million in new funding to cover new R&D, an increase in North American marketing and a new European distribution arrangement. Of the total, $2 million came from the...

Tektronix 850 prints 14 ppm, uses denser inks - Solid-ink unit replaces 840 in lineup.(Product Announcement)
February 14, 2000... Tektronix rolled out the Phaser 850 solid-ink color printer as a successor to the popular 840. The new printer will have the same outward appearance as the 840, including its single-page format, but it runs faster and offers more saturated...

Purup-Eskofot to take legal action vs. Scitex - Imagesetter technology is focus.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Purup-Eskofot is taking legal action to try to recover an estimated $25 million from Scitex in unpaid licensing fees relating to technology used in Scitex's Dolev imagesetters. The dispute, which has been in process for three or four years,...

Kodak Polychrome spars with Agfa over patent - Thermal plate imaging in question.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Kodak Polychrome Graphics has filed suit against Agfa, charging patent infringement relating to thermal CTP technology in the development of Agfa's Thermostar P970 plates. The concerned patent, European patent number 825927B1, is entitled...

USA Today switches from Agfa to ProImage - NewsWay gets output management order.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... ProImage has been awarded a contract to supply its NewsWay workflow automation and page-transmission system for use at USA Today's CTP installations. The contract, negotiated through Pitman, calls for NewsWay to manage the workflow at 33 U.S....

Hitachi's Dataproducts unit realigns, lays off 25.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Hitachi Koki Imaging Solutions (HiKIS), the printer and copier supplier formerly known as Dataproducts, has reorganized to shift its orientation from manufacturing to the provision of network printing solutions. Mike Stramaglio, president and...

Oce Printing Systems USA.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Tom Long has been named COO of Oce Printing Systems USA and will replace H. Werner Krause as president and CEO in May, when Krause retires. Long joins the company after a 13-year stint at Xerox, where he most recently was VP and GM of Pacific...

Open Market.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Ron Matros has been promoted to CEO of Open Market. He will retain the title of president, which he held with the post of COO since the merger with FutureTense last July. He had been serving as CEO of FutureTense. Gary Eichhorn, Open Market's...

Geac Publishing Systems.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Geac Publishing Systems has appointed Philip Jordan product manager for its Cybergraphic editorial system suite, called Media Command. Jordan has been serving as editorial system manager of the Los Angeles Times, the largest daily metro paper...

Xaar plc.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Xaar plc, the ink-jet printing technology group in Cambridge, UK, announced that Dr. Tokuya Ohta has joined the company as director of Xaar Japan. Ohta was previously advisory director and deputy chief executive of Bubble-Jet Operations at...

Berthold Types Ltd.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Berthold Types Ltd. has appointed Guenter Gerhard Lange artistic consultant, where he will develop and design new typefaces exclusively for Berthold Types and guide the direction of the Berthold Exklusiv Collection. With Lange's appointment,...

MediaFlex.com.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... MediaFlex.com, the E-commerce provider for the printing industry, has changed its management team. Bill Rollinson, president and CEO, has moved up to chairman as Ken Ratcliffe takes over as president and CEO. Ratcliffe most recently served as...

PrintImage International.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... PrintImage International (formerly the National Association of Quick Printers) has named senior staff member Jeff Wilson interim executive director, replacing David Steinhardt, who resigned in December. A permanent replacement is being sought.

Graphic Enterprices.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
February 14, 2000... Graphic Enterprices has promoted Les Beyeler to executive VP, overseeing the Prepress and Print-for-Pay divisions; Bob Behringer to president of the Prepress division; Mike Frank to VP of Prepress sales; and Mike Cowles to VP of Prepress...