Alpharetta, GA; January 8, 2004-- Apago, Inc. has released a major upgrade of its award winning PDF Enhancer software dramatically extending the capabilities of the product’s core optimization and document size reduction. PDF Enhancer 2.0 adds several new features including file merging, stamping, imposition, color management and JBIG2 compression making it a powerful solution for modifying, optimizing and repurposing PDF files. "We have designed PDF Enhancer 2.0 for a wide variety of users -- from the traditional web and graphics arts markets to legal, financial, insurance, real estate and other corporate settings," says Dwight Kelly, President of Apago. "PDF is becoming the standard format for exchanging and archiving documents of all types. Building PDF documents from a variety of sources previously required a collection of software programs and manual processing. The new features in PDF Enhancer 2.0 make the process of building, refining and repurposing PDF documents fast and easy." PDF Enhancer continues to offer image optimization and compression, security, linearization, metadata editing and the most advanced file size reduction techniques available. Version 2.0 introduces a number of powerful new features including: · Merge - combine PDF pages and image files (TIFF, JPEG, etc) into a single PDF file. Select individual or a range of pages and rearrange them in any order. · Color correction - complete control over all colors in a PDF document. Convert to grayscale, RGB or CMYK using industry-standard ICC profiles. New "Gray Reduction" technology automatically fixes problems with improper and inconsistent use of "black" colors. · JBIG2 compression - advanced image compression technology that can reduce the size of scanned documents by 70% or more and is generally 90% more efficient than the widely used CCITT G4 compression. There are no page or document fees (no click charges). · Layout - resize PDF pages, create booklets, step and repeat or perform common impositions. · Stamp - add watermarks and stamps (such as “DRAFT”) to PDF pages, placed as overlays or underlays and with optional transparency. Version 2.0 builds upon the original product’s unique “targeted optimization” technology by separating out the concepts of a Target and an Enhancer. A Target represents the settings for a particular final use of the document (High Quality Printing, Web, eBook, etc.). An Enhancer groups one or more Targets together. This allows PDF Enhancer to take a single PDF as input, and produce multiple targeted documents (e.g., Web, Print, Screen) as the result. All of this is accomplished while preserving bookmarks, annotations, hyperlinks, and form fields. Michael Jahn, consultant and respected PDF evangelist says, "If you are a PitStop user, you need to take this for a spin around the track!" Daniel Warne, Project Manager Intranet Corporate Affairs at Myer Grace Bros, a leading Australian retailer, reports, “This software is worth every cent, as it automates an extremely arduous process for most users -- trying to convert high resolution PDFs down to a lower resolution. And its workflow capabilities are wonderful!” PDF Enhancer is available in four versions – Standard ($179) and Professional ($349) for desktop use, Server Edition ($999) and a Server Edition with JBIG2 compression support ($1499). The desktop versions are available for Mac OS X (10.2 and later) and Windows NT/2000/XP. The server versions are available for Mac OS X (10.2 and later) and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Future server versions will also support Solaris and other operating systems.