Düsseldorf, Germany (June 4, 2008) - The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) Organization today announced that it has awarded Doug Belkofer, formerly of EFI, with the CIP4 Fellowship Award. As a CIP4 Fellow, Belkofer has been granted a life-long individual membership to CIP4.

The CIP4 Fellowship Award recognizes individuals whose contributions to the development of the Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification are both substantial and significant the integrity and function of JDF, as well as individuals who may have contributed to the industry's adoption of JDF by educating manufacturers of JDF systems and JDF users and/or by actively disseminating information about JDF. The CIP4 Fellowship award is issued annually at the discretion of the CIP4 Board of Directors.

"Doug is both a friend and a colleague whose opinion and expertise I've come to value and respect," said CIP4 Technology Officer Rainer Prosi of Heidelberg. "He's been involved in every aspect of the creation and development of JDF, and has always approached it with a sense of humor, a willingness to help others and he's tackled a considerable share of the work."

Doug Belkofer has been involved with CIP4 since its inception; first as a representative of PrintCafe, and later as a representative of EFI, after it acquired PrintCafe in 2003. Doug was involved in the drafting of the first (1.0) edition of the Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification, and as a member of the Technical Steering Committee. He has been a key participant in the creation of all editions of the JDF specification since then, as well as many of the interoperability conformance specifications and updates to the PrintTalk Schema and Reference Implementation. He has also served as the co-chair of three CIP4 working groups (System Behaviour & Interoperability, Device Messaging/Job Tracking and MIS) and is involved in many other CIP4 working groups as a participant. Doug has also been a regular participant in JDF interoperability events.

In addition to his technical contributions to the specification, Doug has also actively promoted JDF through participation in speaking and educational programs. He has spoken at many conferences and shows, including Digital Smart Factory, drupa, DDAP Annual Conference, IPEX, Seybold and Print, and is a regular presenter at many of the free JDF tutorials CIP4 has presented in conjunction with JDF interoperability events and with major tradeshows, such as GraphExpo and Xplor.

"EFI is committed to openness as part of our corporate strategy, and we are proud that Doug was able to represent EFI in CIP4 activities when he was with us," said CIP4 CEO Margaret Motamed of EFI. "His work constitutes a significant contribution to the industry and sets a benchmark for other individuals who continue to work towards open systems and automated, competitive printing."

The CIP4 Fellowship Award was created by the CIP4 in 2004. Previous CIP4 Fellows include Alfred Bürkli of Müller Martini (2004), Graham Mann of Adobe Systems (2005), Thomas Hastings of Xerox (2006) and Martin Bailey of Global Graphics (2007). Additional information on CIP4 fellows can be found at http://www.cip4.org/fellows/.