April 29, 2002 -- Braintree, MA -- GMC Software Technology, a leading provider of easy-to-use turnkey software to design, compose and print variable documents, announces AFP2PRT, a new PrintNet module that makes it extremely easy to modify legacy black and white AFP files for output to full color devices or other monochrome systems. "As digital color printing has become more available and affordable, users want to migrate existing applications to take advantage of the benefits of color output, but until now they have been hampered by expensive and time-consuming programming," said Denny Kerns, president and general manager of GMC Software Technology. "The new AFP2PRT module gives our customers a much-needed capability to leverage their investments in existing applications and convert them to color without the hassles of totally redoing their applications. Now using PrintNet, a customer can continue to use their legacy AFP systems without expending an enormous amount of effort converting." This new module includes the broad functionality the market has come to expect from GMC technology. AFP2PRT can view any standard black-and-white AFP legacy spool file, then modify it in a number of ways, such as adding a background color, changing any variable data item to any color, and repositioning any variable item to fit within the background. Users can change fonts, move data, and add any 1D or 2D barcode if the data is available within the original data stream. The intelligent AFP2PRT software automatically catalogs all changes, so no additional reworking is required for future printing of the same application. The AFP-to-color transformer software writes legacy AFP black and white data streams to any protocol GMC supports. The module creates a file that can be sent to any GMC color PrintManager, including those for PostScript, VPS, IJPDS, PPML, AFP and VIPP environments. In addition to color, the software will allow AFP data streams to be printed on PCL, Scitex, Metacode and IPDS devices.