In 1989 Efi Arazi, founded Electronics For Imaging and in 1991, introduced the first line of Fiery color servers, to the print and graphics world, transforming standard digital color copiers into high-powered devices. This thankfully changed the world of color forever. Numerous EFI branded controllers now drive color and black and white copiers inside corporations, advertising agencies, graphic design studios and print-for-pay businesses around the world.

At Graph Expo EFI announced the arrival of its new supercharged Fiery Q4000 Server. The Fiery Q4000 is EFI’s most powerful server well suited for high-end production printing organizations needing powerful servers to drive variable data printing solutions as well as high-end commercial production devices.

With the Fiery Q4000 server EFI has served notice to Creo, and all other companies in the professional commercial print workflow space that EFI is moving out from behind the color copier.

Creo makes excellent products but the market needs additional strong competitive players in all spaces and EFI is a welcome entrant. The last thing the printing industry needs in the workflow space is one vendor dominating the server space. Based on industry history printers should be concerned with Creo’s workflow dominance. When one vendor dominates large parts of the market, product and service stagnation becomes the norm.

EFI’s recent acquisition of Best GMBH was an excellent move. I am a strong believer in on-line proofing systems and Best has a good one. Even though I believe Real-Time-Image provides the best solution in the market, the Best Color solution is not chopped liver. I would encourage EFI to not waste time integrating the Best Color online proofing solution into their workflow offerings. Digital printing is especially well suited to on-line soft proofing solutions but even traditional prepress and offset printing no longer needs to be locked away in the closet with traditional proofing methods like Matchprints. As long as printers continue to cling to their outdated ways they will continue to miss out on the type of opportunities that can lead their organizations to better and more profitable days.


EFI has the correct strategy in building controllers that drive as many devices as possible. This will open more doors for EFI as commercial printers begin to see that they have a wider range of choices. This is the only way to assure that printers have both the economic and technology options they need to survive.


Quite often "which RIP or workflow option is best" comes down to the specific type of work each printer produces. If there can be any conclusion made from the highly disputed, but often quoted Seybold PDF challenge it is that the type of work directly impacts which RIP or workflow solution is best suited for your needs. EFI in Phase Two, the only phase EFI participated in, scored very well. While EFI’s Velocity Oneflow solution finished third in a very competitive field, they were only one point from second and four points behind first place finisher Creo - a virtual dead-heat. When you consider EFI is a relative new comer to the high-end commercial print market, I think it bodes very well for future products. EFI deserves strong consideration whether you are a commercial or on-demand printer.


While EFI’s PrintMe service has not lit the world on fire, I believe this type of service will be successful down the road. EFI deserves credit for their attempt at uniting the wireless world of printing. At some point, this technology will take hold in spite of the industry’s general lack of understanding of this technology. Don’t blame EFI when your clients start using this type of technology and the printing does not show up at your plant.

EFI’s out-of-the-box thinking will help them gain a great deal of knowledge for future ventures. PrintMe is not something Creo or Heidelberg would even try, but this is what makes EFI such a unique and exciting company. With EFI’s excellent color management software, new server products and now on-line proofing, printers have run out of excuses for not providing their clients with the very best in technology. Nor can printers claim they do not have a vendor they can turn to for exciting alternative products.

EFI may be exactly what the commercial printing industry needs to shake things up around here.