Darmstadt, Germany (March 18, 2005) - The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress (CIP4) and PrintPlanet.com announced today the formation of the CIP4 JDF Users Forum, which is the heir of the former, and successful, Eproduction forum. PrintPlanet, an Internet service provided by Printable Technologies, is a premier medium for people to communicate, one-to-one and between many, around the world, anytime, enabling conversations that simply are not possible in other media. They are a conversation channel that amplifies the voices in the print and publishing marketplaces. "The real power and value add of PrintPlanet is not the technology behind it but the profound way people on our forums interact everyday with business," said Dave Mainwaring, Director of PrintPlanet. "PrintPlanet messaging arrives in nanoseconds and is instantly shared with the click of a mouse." The "CIP4 JDF Users forum" (aka: [email protected]) is provided by Printable Technologies Inc, PrintPlanet, as a service to the CIP4 Organization. It is a technical forum that connects printers, researchers and developers from both the commercial and academic communities. Membership on this forum is open to all individuals in the printing and publishing marketplace who registered for the [email protected] forum or who now register for the CIP4 JDF User Forum at www.printplanet.com. It is not necessary to belong to the CIP4 organization to participate on this forum. PrintPlanet forum members use, manage, specify and purchase billions of dollars of just about everything needed for publishing, advertising and marketing: print, direct mail, graphic design, promotional and marketing services, content, stock images, presses, computers, networks, workflows, paper, ink. Individuals from every segment of the Graphic Arts Industries come here to find answers, solutions, get educated, discuss, debate, talk shop, and find needed help. The Eproduction forum was set up in April 1999 in response to a request for a forum to discuss digital end-to-end integration of document production from corporate enterprise resource planning to ink on paper. The objective of the Eproduction forum was to facilitate the collaboration necessary to build digital infrastructures that would support document production systems within the industry. 2000 was the year when many people embraced the concept of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and process automation, and companies began to implement process automation systems ranging from single departments to enterprise-wide implementations. At the same time companies recognized that a successful approach to process automation requires specifications that all vendors and system integrators can work with to ensure that solutions can grow beyond isolated islands of automation into truly open workflows. CIP4 was organized in 2000 precisely to provide these specifications. "This new CIP4 JDF User Forum should be a great place for new and prospective customers to bring their questions; for CIP4 working groups to bounce development ideas off of users; to collect feedback (both criticisms and accolades); and for all participants to learn from each other," said CIP4 Executive Director James Harvey. "And starting with over 3,000 members ... the discussions should be lively!" To learn more, and to register for the CIP4 JDF User Forum, visit http://www.printplanet.com.