Foster City, Calif. – July 18, 2007 – EFI, the world leader in digital controllers, superwide format printers and inks, and print management solutions, today announced a new version of its PrintMessenger PDF-generating drivers that let print service providers choose to remove the shortcuts which route print jobs to other print service providers from the user interface of their Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat applications. PrintMessenger is a standard feature of EFI’s award-winning Web-To-Print platform, Digital StoreFront. The new PrintMessenger creates a “File-Print” link to their own shop from within Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat as well as any other Apple Macintosh or Windows application.
Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI APPS division, said: “Our print service provider clients came to us asking for our help, and we are pleased that we have been able to quickly provide a solution. The new software puts print service providers back in control of their own customer relationships and provides the added benefit of being able to submit PDF documents from any Windows or Mac application directly to their print shop.”
The new software lets the print service provider and/or their customers decide whether or not to remove the link to other print service providers upon installation of the PrintMessenger software. PrintMessenger is downloadable from the print service provider’s own EFI Digital StoreFront (DSF) web site, or can be deployed in an enterprise environment through the use of standard MSI installers.
“EFI is a trustworthy partner for many of our mission-critical printing applications, so we’re thrilled that they’ve added this new PrintMessenger functionality,” said David Bennett, president of Bennett Graphics in Atlanta. “This will make sure our customers remain loyal to Bennett Graphics rather than accidentally or mistakenly sending a job to another printer.”
In many cases, print service providers implement Web-To-Print solutions to help manage their user’s job flow, whether to their in-house print operation, or to direct corporate printing to their local printing company with which the company has a contractual relationship for better pricing, quality or delivery options.
Commercial printers, in-plants and CRDs, as well as facilities management service providers who license Digital StoreFront, can benefit from this enhancement to PrintMessenger. Whether the goal is to make sure customers stay loyal to their local print shop, or to prevent leakage of corporate print volume away from in-house print operations, PrintMessenger makes it easier for customers to print to the appropriate print service provider.
The new PrintMessenger option is implemented in a way specified by Adobe itself, so the solution is a robust, EFI tested solution – not a hack – and safe to deploy on the customer’s network and workstations.  The solution is fully supported by EFI.
“File Print” is a familiar workflow to all computer users. EFI PrintMessenger is a print driver initiated e-commerce workflow. With it, customers “print” to Digital StoreFront via an installed virtual printer. The print driver then provides a PDF conversion workflow, and the print shop receives print-ready PDF files that are converted at the “source” where file assets (e.g., fonts and graphics) reside. PrintMessenger provides customers an easy on-ramp to the PDF format, the common language for reliable, accurate, and predictable print e-commerce. Since it is installed at the operating system level, customers can “print” to the print shop from virtually any software application using Apple Macintosh or a Windows PC. PrintMessenger also comes standard with all DSF platforms, so distribution throughout the print service provider’s customer base is unlimited.
Award Winning Web-To-Print
Available since May, EFI Digital StoreFront 3.0 is the latest release of the Digital StoreFront system. DSF enables print service providers of all shapes and sizes to create a unique shopping experience for their customers, allowing them to easily navigate through a full suite of print products and services all in one place, including personalized print items and managed catalogs. Print buyers can shop, specify, proof and buy print products using e-commerce tools they are familiar with. Inside the print operation, DSF acts as an on-ramp to the digital production workflow and print management systems, reducing data entry, decreasing the likelihood of print errors, and reducing labor costs.
Availability
The new PrintMessenger drivers will be available in the next 30 days to all existing Digital StoreFront 3.0 licensees at no additional cost. Subsequent releases of Digital StoreFront will come standard with the new version.