ON DEMAND EXPO, NEW YORK, NY -- April 23, 2002 -- Creo Inc. is demonstrating variable information (VI) strength at booth #802 at the On Demand exhibition in New York. The Spire( color server from Creo offers robust digital printing capabilities and is the centerpiece of Creo's presence at the show. Creo is also hosting presentations by more than a dozen members of its VI Partnership Program, providing a first-hand look at the solutions that create true variable information power with the Spire. "Creo is the only company that offers a truly comprehensive, highly efficient VI solution," said David Nitsan, business development manager, Print On-demand Systems Group, Creo. "Spire, the intelligent hub of our variable information solution, implements all leading variable information formats and provides unmatched flexibility to choose from a long and growing list of software solutions. We will continue to work with the best companies in the industry to ensure that Spire maintains its position as 'the total VI solution'." The Spire color server's workflow makes handling and producing a variable information job as easy as a regular print job. For direct mailers, variable data statements, marketing collateral, or any other customized job, the Spire color server workflow, with a very VI-savvy RIP, makes production fast, easy and reliable. The Spire's unique architecture and data flow enables a wide range of processing features, including Gallop "print while you RIP", Automatic Picture Replacement (APR), on the fly imposition, soft proofing preview, and element caching. Creo's expanding VI Partnership Program brings together all the leading variable information vendors to offer the broadest array of market-ready solutions for variable data color printing. The solutions available include Creo's own variable information authoring tool, the Darwin( Desktop application, as well as solutions from Atlas Software, Banta Integrated Media, Datalogics, Document Sciences, Elixir, Exstream Software, GMC Software Technology, PageFlex, PrintSoft, L2Solutions, Think121, and XMPiE. A newly expanded team at Creo works with vendors on integration, helping them throughout the development, testing and verifying stages. To reinforce the breadth of the Creo VI solution, Creo announced that the Spire technology supports two new VI file formats: PODi's new standard PPML, and Xerox VIPP2001, a newer version of the previously supported Xerox VIPP format. These formats are additional to the Spire's support of the Creo Variable Print Specification format. As part of its close cooperation with VI Partners, Creo recently released a new version of the Software Development Kit (SDK) for implementing Variable Print Specification by Creo. It includes enhanced verification tools, simulating Creo's own Variable Print Specification RIP so that developers can test and debug their output quickly, easily and accurately. The new SDK also provides an expanded set of sample jobs and updated documentation.