5/16/01 - (WhatTheyThink.com) According to a source familiar with the negotiations, printCafe is nearing the completion of a deal that would have printCafe owning Impresse. Terms of the deal were unknown, however an announcement is imminent according to the source. printCafe launched in early 2000 through the combined initiatives of Prograph and CreoScitex, a division of Creo. printCafe integrates widely used print management systems with an e-commerce engine enabling users to specify almost any type of print project and track the status in real time. Impresse, launched in 1997, develops business-to-business solutions to harness the power of enterprise collaboration. The Marketing Resource Management solution provides visibility and control over Fortune 2000 company’s marketing resources. In April, investors brought in “close down” expert John Kipp as CEO in an effort to “jump start” the company. Impresse’s investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital and Atlas Venture. WhatTheyThink.com reported Impresse’s apparent demise on April 26th. At the time, sources said they were under strict orders not to discuss the event. We learned that the company’s technical support number had been disconnected and key clients including General Motors and Merrill Lynch were given special access to the remaining technical crew. The story followed two rounds of major layoffs and a shift in focus from a company’s “print spend to their marketing spend.” Impresse is a member of the PrintTalk community which aims to define an open communications interface between their member’s products. PrintTalk is also seeking to have their work recognized as an implementation of the proposed JDF standard by submitting the PrintTalk implementation to CIP4 for inclusion in its specification. To date, printCafe has elected not to join PrintTalk. Another source said Impresse has more assets than just customers and technology. “(Impresse has) very tight relationships and formal partnerships with companies like Adobe, Ariba, Cisco, Commerce One, Oracle and PeopleSoft that printCafe will be able to work with.” WhatTheyThink.com was unable to reach executives for official comment before our publishing deadline. More details will be announced this week.