FREMONT, Calif. - EFI™ has launched the newest platform for its industry-leading Fiery^® digital front ends (DFE) for digital printing systems. The latest advancements included in the new EFI Fiery FS200 Pro extend technical leadership advantage that makes Fiery the world's most popular production DFE technology by giving users an extremely productive, intuitive platform with expanded color capability.

The DFE platform, which will be incorporated in several new digital presses from EFI partners starting in Q3, features innovative tools for higher-speed processing and expansion to CMYK+ colors. It also provides robust capabilities for shop automation and connectivity. As the industry's only CIP4-certified JDF DFE, the Fiery platform can seamlessly connect with other JDF-based devices. Plus, users can establish fully automated, bi-directional communication and integration with EFI's market-leading MIS/ERP and web-to-print products.

"Fiery is the gold standard for the class of digital front end technology needed to drive high-end, integrated graphic arts production printing environments, and we are excited to take our leading-edge technology to the next level with a platform that addresses users' critical needs for faster processing, more-efficient printing and expanded color gamuts," said Toby Weiss, senior vice president and general manager, EFI Fiery. "Many of the new capabilities included in this release are unique to Fiery and will deliver a competitive advantage to print businesses looking to fuel their success with the unmatched performance this DFE platform offers."

Improved productivity with 55% faster RIPing

Fiery DFEs are powered by EFI's proprietary ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) with RIPChip™ technology that can process print files significantly faster than alternative DFEs. Fiery FS200 Pro expands the performance advantage on high-end servers with EFI's breakthrough Fiery HyperRIP offering. HyperRIP now has a mode optimized for multiple jobs, as well as the previous, single-job mode, boosting processing performance up to 55% compared to the performance without HyperRIP. Now, the Fiery FS200 Pro platform can RIP up to four jobs simultaneously, giving users the ability to print more jobs in the shortest possible time.

The new Fiery platform also includes a Rush RIP mode that opens up a fifth RIP to process rush jobs when all four main parallel processors are busy. "Rush RIP allows printing operations to accommodate last-minute rush jobs without interrupting the ongoing workflow or cancelling jobs that are already being processed. It also gives users the ability to preview jobs quickly while other jobs are processing, further speeding up the production process and increasing overall throughput," said Weiss.

"With the new Fiery FS200 Pro platform, EFI has brought a new level of productivity to the market," according to Kaspar Roos, director of analyst firm InfoTrends' Production Workflow Service. "Improvements in RIPing speed, color management, and tighter integration of workflow components make this new Fiery platform a very attractive proposition."

Better brand-color matching, and customizable API integration 

The EFI Fiery FS200 Pro system also takes color management to brand-new heights with the introduction of a CMYK+ feature set for incorporating expanded-gamut process-color imaging beyond standard four-color imaging. CMYK+ opens the door to a range of inkjet press technologies that may be capable of incorporating five-, six-, or eight-color process imaging. Print businesses can more precisely match a wider range of brand colors on digital presses offering expanded toner imaging capabilities.

EFI has also released color correction and process control improvements to the Fiery Graphic Arts Package, Premium Edition including:

• new features in Fiery ImageViewer that offer greater consistency in the color workflow, with automated color adjustment between similar jobs using custom color curves
• a WYSIWYG interface to edit control bars, offering users more control over placement and content.

The first DFEs based on the Fiery FS200 Pro platform will be available in Q3.

Fiery is the world's most popular DFE platform, with more users than all other production printing DFEs combined. For more information about Fiery Driven™ production printing, visit www.efi.com or contact 800-875-7117.