drupa, 29 May, 2008: Today at drupa Global Graphics unveiled a new interactive community and online store for Harlequin RIP users at www.harlequin.com.  It provides pre-press operations and print shops with a comprehensive range of RIP-related information, makes it easy to evaluate and purchase products that add new features to the RIP, and provides a service to match users who want to upgrade their current RIP, or buy a new RIP, with a supplier. The site is backed by Global Graphics' OEMS including Xitron, Compose, Fusion Systems, HighWater, ECRM, RTI, and Screen who will provide technical support to purchasers of Harlequin products.

"We estimate that there are about two hundred thousand Harlequin RIP users throughout the world", says Jim Freidah, Global Graphics' chief executive officer.  "This new initiative gives this loyal group of users online access to our expertise for the first time as well as the chance to exchange knowledge and information with their peers.  Users can connect with us by registering their RIP through harlequin.com to receive regular information updates and should they have lost touch with their original RIP supplier we are offering a service that will put them in touch with a member of our OEM channel who will be able to assist them to upgrade or obtain a RIP.

"Our aim is that harlequin.com will grow into an essential online resource for Harlequin RIP users as more content and products are added over the coming weeks and months.  We hope to target users who are not aware of the many product options that exist for the RIP and so have not realised its full potential, as well as to encourage them to upgrade to the latest version of the RIP, the Harlequin PLUS Server RIP (v.8.0) to benefit from faster processing speeds and a host of new in-RIP features."

harlequin.com has two main sections: a community and a store. The community section provides a series of informative Frequently Asked Questions, based on years of feedback from customers in the field, all archived and logged by the Harlequin RIP team and compiled into an easy- to-reference format specifically for harlequin.com.  A forum allows RIP users to share their experiences with their peers by exchanging knowledge and networking on issues related to the use of the Harlequin RIP.  The community section is also a central repository for Global Graphics' series of White Papers on industry topics such as XPS in professional print, JDF in small pre-press sites, color management in the graphic arts, and font emulation.

The store contains a selection of products developed by the Harlequin RIP team that can be added to the RIP to improve the efficiency and flexibility of print operations.  They include trapping, screening, imposition and the job management tool, Print Production Manager.. Most products are available for evaluation for 30 days so that users can 'try before they buy'. Harlequin RIP users can also buy other Global Graphics technology including Jaws PDF Creator and Global Graphics' server-based PDF creation package, Jaws PDF Server, as well as  a small selection of third-party products. Others will be added during the next few months.

Tom Sit, managing director of Compose System headquartered in Hong Kong, welcomed the launch of harlequin.com, "This is a great opportunity for us to reconnect with users of the Harlequin RIP. Our customer base is spread across the world so harlequin.com offers us a way of reaching out to them in a way that complements our existing commercial activities."

Eric Nelsen, Xitron's product director said, "Harlequin.com will be a great resource for the more than two hundred thousand users of Harlequin RIP technology including Xitron's own Navigator GPS users. This web portal provides printers with open access to products and information that may be used to increase the efficiency of their operations."

The Harlequin RIP  was first used in a production system in 1988 and is used to power a vast number of operations and printing devices including CtP, proofers, short-run print, wide format print,   and PDF workflows applications.  It has processed PostScript natively since 1988, PDF natively since 1997 and is commercially available graphic arts RIP to natively process files in the new XPS print format (XML Paper Specification) available with Windows Vista?. Native processing of file formats renders files more accurately and speedily because there is no conversion to an intermediary format.  Native processing of PDF files means there is no need to flatten transparencies in artwork.   The latest version of the Harlequin RIP is the Harlequin PLUS Server RIP (v.8.0) will be on show at the Global Graphics' stand at drupa (Hall 7.0, stand 7.0D).   It has even faster processing speeds than its predecessors and provides a variety of other new features. (see separate press release.)