BEDFORD, MA -- October 17, 2002 -- Creo Inc. has launched Synapse(r) Link software for the automatic exchange of prepress production data between database-driven print production systems and management information systems (MIS). This product opens a new chapter for Networked Graphic Production, the Creo initiative that is streamlining printing cycles. Now installed at the JohnsByrne Company in Niles, IL, Synapse Link software provides increased visibility into prepress for printers, allowing them to achieve new levels of business efficiency and productivity. Accessibility Through JDF... Synapse Link software sends actual production data and job status information from the Prinergy(r) workflow (and soon the Brisque(tm)) directly to the Printcafe Hagen OA. In the near future, other JDF-compatible MIS systems will be able to interface with Networked Graphic Production through Synapse Link software. It performs this collection and delivery using JDF (Job Definition Format), an XML-based industry-standard file format that unifies prepress, post-press, production and management information systems. Synapse Link is based on a subset of JDF, the JMF or Job Message Format open standard, which provides tremendous flexibility for printers to leverage their existing JDF-compliant systems. Change requests recorded through the Synapse InSite Internet portal can also be accessed and collected by Synapse Link, which enables the printer to capture these costs through accurate, detailed invoicing in their MIS. Better Tracking and Control... Automated data exchange gives the printer the ability to better manage inventory, identify profitable jobs, create accurate invoices, and develop more efficient production processes. "When a customer orders a change to a print job that requires additional pages to the job, the additional material usage, and machine time, and job control data are automatically forwarded to the printers' business systems," explains Wendy Moore, Synapse Link product manager. "This improves invoice detail and helps inventory tracking." Transferring production data to the MIS system can provide an immediate summary of the production costs associated with each print job and allows database-reporting tools to analyze the data. It ensures the printer is able to increase profitability by automatically collecting accurate and timely job-costing information. Prinergy Implements JDF from Preps... The Prinergy workflow management system now accepts and processes JDF imposition data from Preps(r) software from ScenicSoft, the industry's leading page imposition software for offset printing. JDF imposition data incorporates customer information, and data from postpress systems such as folding and cutting. This allows standard format data from Preps to be delivered into a Networked Graphic Production environment-once again, increasing the printer's visibility into prepress operations. Creo announced August 16, 2002 that it intends to acquire ScenicSoft. Extensive Use of JDF in Creo Software... A standard format such as JDF, allows for the fast, compatible exchange of information and instructions between different systems. Many Creo workflow products are already using JDF data structures and messages to exchange information and to integrate third-party vendor technologies. For example, Synapse(r) Prepare software sends information via JDF to the Prinergy and Brisque workflow systems for automatic page assignment. Import and export of job data between Prinergy systems is also performed using JDF. Prinergy outputs ink key presets to the press using the CIP4 open standard, the predecessor of JDF. Creo demonstrated these developments in JDF open standards at Graph Expo.