ANAHEIM, CA--Oct 28, 2002 -- XPLOR 2002, BOOTH 354 -- At Xplor 2002, IBM is announcing new hardware and software offerings that will address operational efficiency and cost savings associated with output. Among the introductions are new models that join the Infoprint 4100 family of continuous forms printers, enhancements to the Infoprint 70 and the release of Infoprint XML Extender. IBM has also teamed with Pitney Bowes to demonstrate the benefits of an automated document factory (ADF) solution that includes IBM's Infoprint Workflow and Pitney Bowes' DFWorks and the value in 3-up statement printing. "As I talk to our customers around the world, I hear them voice similar concerns -- they're working with smaller budgets and fewer resources," said David Dobson, general manager, IBM Printing Systems. "With this in mind, IBM has taken steps to introduce new Infoprint 4100 models that work harder and faster than any other printer in its class. We've also developed software solutions that streamline processes and automate many of the tasks that eat up valuable man-hours. These new offerings are part of our value proposition to provide integrated, end-to-end solutions that lower costs and improve the value of every critical enterprise document." New Output Solutions At Xplor Infoprint 4100 With the addition of the HS2 and HD3/HD4 models, the Infoprint 4100 family of continuous-forms printers can now print true 600 dpi at speeds up to 2,238 6"x9" impressions-per-minute (ipm) and 1,220 8 1/2" x 11" ipm, offering the highest print quality at this speed for any printer. With the combination of 19" print width, leading print quality, high-speed and leadership, innovative technology that only IBM can bring to market, IBM now offers six Infoprint 4100s -- a solution to meet any production or print-on-demand (POD) need. Commercial printers can use the Infoprint 4100 to help reduce printing costs and improve the print quality of books or technical manuals; direct mailers and service bureaus can lower costs by running a broad range of papers weights at higher speeds; and enterprise production centers can reduce operational costs by printing statements or publications at higher speeds --- printing 60 percent faster than previous Infoprint 4100 models. Infoprint 70 Plus Building on the success of the Infoprint 70, IBM has announced the new Infoprint 70 Plus. The Infoprint 70 Plus has an extended duty cycle of up to 600,000 pages per month and includes the latest controller technology from IBM. Like the other products in IBM's Infoprint 2000 family, the Infoprint 70 Plus has been designed to meet the rigors of IBM customers without sacrificing compatibility with other systems. This new offering was built and tested to ensure seamless integration within IBM iSeries and zSeries environments. Included within the controller enhancements are improved service diagnostic capabilities which, when combined with the reliability of this platform, has enabled IBM to offer a new, more aggressive maintenance offering and a lower overall cost of printing. Infoprint XML Extender Extensible Markup Language (XML) has emerged as the standard data format for platform-independent data interchange. XML has become a key corporate infrastructure technology, just as Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) has become the foundation for output management infrastructure in many large enterprises. Infoprint XML Extender is the only software that produces AFP from XML documents with companion Extensible Style Sheet Language (XSL) style sheets, or documents with XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO). Infoprint XML Extender provides the ideal solution for customers who already depend upon AFP for their production and mission-critical distributed printing, and who are using XML as the strategic technology to support business initiatives such as business process integration, content management, supply chain management, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Web services applications. Benefits of converting XML to AFP include: - Helping accelerate business transformation by leveraging the investment companies have already made in output management systems based on AFP print and presentation technology - Connecting new and re-engineered XML data and applications to your existing AFP print system using standard XSL formatting - Complementing and extending support of Print Services Facility V3.3 (PSF) for formatting XML data with AFP page layouts - Providing both XML for platform-independent data interchange, and AFP for highly reliable, system-managed printing, without having to create and maintain two separate data formats IBM and Pitney Bowes In its booth at Xplor, IBM will demonstrate a combined offering of IBM Printing Systems' Infoprint Workflow, the leading solution in data management, systems integration, and infrastructure control, and Pitney Bowes' DFWorks, the leading solution for managing mailing applications and physical paper processing. With a combined solution of these two offerings, IBM and Pitney Bowes are demonstrating the power of automating data, document workflows and physical paper workflow. This ADF solution from IBM and Pitney Bowes demonstrates end-to-end control of output, cost savings and efficiency, a single point of control and integrity and security. While a number of companies have been introducing parts of this ADF solution, none have been able to bring together the optimal functionality of an integrated Infoprint workflow - DFWorks solution. To help get the maximum cost savings and productivity improvements from IBM's Infoprint 4100 3-up statement printing, Pitney Bowes will demonstrate how it's custom mail finishing solution utilizes true file-based processing to create customer statements and ensure document integrity.