Ghent, Belgium – FESPA 2015 will witness the first partnership between major software manufacturers Enfocus and Caldera, offering wide-format houses superior job submission and data management throughout their workflows. Visitors to the show, opening today in Cologne, Germany and running until Friday 22nd May, are invited to visit the Enfocus stand (Hall 6, Stand P80) and Caldera's stand (Hall 6, Stand T80) for a full demonstration of new protocols linking Enfocus Switch and Caldera Nexio, which leverages two-way communication between the workflow modules to deliver superior workflow optimization.

With wide-format businesses now seeking to streamline their internal data-based communications, the partnership enables bilateral data transfer from Switch to the Caldera suite via two new configurators, Nexio Submit and Nexio Collect. Enfocus Switch, which allows users to create and deploy end-to-end file and data workflows, can now communicate directly with Caldera-based production environments using two-way JDF/JMF communication, thereby enabling user companies to send jobs to a printer automatically and receive precise success and failure data back from the RIP.

Nexio Submit creates a fully compliant JDF file within Switch that sends job parameters directly to Nexio, so that users can write a full workflow pathway within Switch and send a file, complete with all descriptive data, straight to the RIP. The job is then processed automatically to the correct device, containing all customer and production information so that wide-format producers of all sizes can streamline their output, finishing and order processing capabilities.

Its counterpart, Nexio Collect, returns post-processing data to Enfocus Switch upon completion or rejection of the job. This lets operators gather JDF information about ink and media consumption, production factors and an unlimited number of other descriptors, generating live data that can not only determine workflow improvements but also advanced reporting mechanisms for business optimisation. Within web-to-print and other automated environments, users can, for example, send customers precise notifications of the job status or return other information to their MIS, reducing pressure on client-facing departments.

"Enfocus has worked hard in recent years to extend its experience in automating digital print environments into the wide-format space," explains Bjorn Willems, Director of Product Management at Enfocus. "Caldera's vision for this market is leading its users to the same point and integrators from the Enfocus Switch community are already delighted with the results of two-way JDF-compliant data exchange.”

"Feedback from Caldera users tells us that they are increasingly seeing workflow automation as a priority, and integration with components such as Enfocus Switch is high on their list of demands," adds Patrick Zimmerman, Solutions Integration Director for Caldera. "This is an excellent opportunity for new and existing customers to access the full benefit of a unified production environment from two of the industry's leading software providers."