Lyon - Alwan Color Expertise, a leader in dynamic color management and standardization technologies, today announced it is launching two new print solutions at IPEX that will ease the path for print service providers in achieving ISO 12647 standardization and certification within their operations.  Both solutions operate in Mac and PC environments. Alwan Color Expertise is located in Hall 11, Stand E234, at the show.

"Just one year after the successful launch of the industry's first automated press standardization solution - Print Standardizer - Alwan continues to pave the way to standards adoption in the graphic arts industry by bringing new and affordable solutions to print production workflows," said Elie Khoury, President Alwan Color Expertise. "Despite the continuous tough economy, ISO 12647 standards adoption has remained strong and is increasing worldwide. Many companies in Europe, Asia and the U.S. have already used Alwan PRINT Standardizer to make this adoption easier in their pressrooms. Based on this success, Alwan is bringing to the market an even more powerful, flexible and affordable solution: PRINT Standardizer 2.0, to be launched at IPEX in Birmingham in May 2010."

NEW: Print Standardizer 2.0
Print Standardizer 2.0 includes Alwan's unique Dynamic Press Calibration which collects measurement data from digital or offset presses in real time in order to accurately record the press behavior and compensate for its deviations.  It offers users a new and unique ability to apply dot gain in their RIP and on their color control bars and yet use measurements for press calibration update and print analysis in real time.

Print Standardizer 2.0 has been separated from CMYK Optimizer software that was included in Version 1.0 and has been optimized to automatically produce Dot Gain Compensation Curve files that can be easily imported into most digital printer and workflow RIPs.  It brings a new and automated "Sheet" and "Print Run" Analysis Reports, guarantees assessments and certification for printed sheets and complete jobs according to ISO 12647 and ISO 9000 requirements for quality-control.

Finally, Print Standardizer Viewer displays a Sheet Analysis Report after each measurement on the press, enabling press operators to see at a glance on their console screens whether or not they are printing to ISO 12647 conditions.

NEW: Alwan Print Verifier at IPEX
In order to better align the practices of printers and print buyers, Alwan has also developed Print Verifier, a new print verification and certification solution for handheld devices that Alwan Print Standardizer users can offer to their print buyers.

Unique to Print Verifier is its ability to hold a number of quality control settings in its "Settings" manager. This allows users to save, export and import quality-control analysis conditions including: Target, Instrument, Control strip, Measuring conditions, and Certification method. This unique capability guarantees printers and print buyers that they are performing quality control measures in identical conditions, hence avoiding mistakes and inaccuracies that can lead to false results, disagreements, and other potential conflicts that can now be avoided.

"We are pleased to have successfully tackled the technical challenges that Version 2.0 of Print Standardizer encompassed," said Luc Regnault, Alwan's Director of R&D and recipient of much industry recognition, including the prestigious French "Ordre National du Mérite" decoration. "One of those significant challenges was the use of Black Backing measurement on the press when most popular reference printing conditions are available with white backing. The ability to extract information about the status of the press from measurements with a dot gain curve applied on them was another of those challenges that we were able to overcome in this version."

Regnault cites ISO 12647-2 and ISO 12647-3 compliance criteria for sheets and print runs as the most delicate challenge of all, adding, "All similar software that we tested failed to deliver the right assessment and result in many cases. This can lead to problematic situations that Print Standardizer and its users do not encounter. When Alwan Print Standardizer passes a sheet or a print run, we can guarantee that those sheets or press runs will pass the audit criteria of certification organizations."

"We are also very excited to bring to the market, for the first time in Alwan's history, solutions that operate on both Mac and PC platforms," said Khoury, Alwan's President and an international ISO 12647 expert. "We are confident that we will be able to leverage our broad participation in today's standardization market to help further develop the market, increase our market share, and keep prices affordable to help printers more easily adopt standardization solutions."

Availability & pricing
The Standard Retail Price for Print Standardizer 2.0 is 6 000€, half the price of version 1.0. With the promotions and bundles with instruments that Alwan's channel will be offering upon its launch at IPEX, the company expects that its street price will be significantly less, making it easier than ever before for printers to enter the world of ISO 12647 compliance.