Ghent, Belgium – Ghent Workgroup continues to bring the international graphic arts community’s best minds together to develop best practices for the benefit of the print and publishing industry worldwide. Today Ghent Workgroup is happy to welcome new member Global Graphics Software, a leading developer of software platforms for high-speed digital printing.

The Ghent Workgroup is an international organization made up of graphic arts users, associations & developers building best practices for publishing and packaging workflows. The resulting recommendations and specifications make it easy for increasing numbers of professionals around the world to successfully create, process, and exchange graphic arts files for numerous applications.

Being a member of the GWG provides you with the ability to influence and set industry standards, to network with an international group of experts and to be the best in class in your industry.

Global Graphics Software: experts in printing, PDF and digital document software

Global Graphics Software is a leading developer of software platforms for high-speed digital printing and is the developer of the market-leading Harlequin RIP®. Its technologies are designed to meet the most demanding printing applications from general commercial printing to labels and packaging and industrial inkjet applications such as textiles, ceramics and décor.

Global Graphics Software is subsidiary of Global Graphics PLC which is listed on Euronext (GLOG) and has offices in Cambridge, Sarasota, Florida and in Tokyo. With more than 30 years' expertise in printing and document technology, they provide the performance, quality and engineering know-how needed for industrial inkjet printing, high volume digital printing and digital labels and packaging.

David Zwang, Chair of Ghent Workgroup, says: “We welcome the membership of Global Graphics to the GWG. As one of the largest developers of printing software platforms, they are at the leading edge of the transition to digital print across many applications. We look forward to their participation in the continued development of GWG efforts to help bring coordination and best practices to help drive the industry transition and growth.”

“We are excited to join the Ghent Workgroup as we have always prided ourselves on the rendering accuracy of our technology. One of the reasons prospects choose to work with Global Graphics is the high quality and compliancy of our technology with industry standards. To be able to say that we are compliant with the Ghent PDF Output Suite and to have a more formal association with them, makes perfect sense for us.” Justin Bailey, managing director Global Graphics Software.

Harlequin RIP® achieves Ghent PDF Output Suite 5 Compliancy

The Ghent PDF Output Suite determines whether workflows are behaving as expected and gives users the ability to quickly and easily identify errors. The PDF Output Suite includes test patches for compatibility issues that might appear in an PDF/X-4 (ISO 15930-7) compliant workflow. Harlequin RIP ® has perfectly passed the critical test, processing all 48 test patches without any problems and is now fully compliant with the Ghent PDF Output Suite 5.

Harlequin Host Renderer is a Raster Image Processor, or RIP. It converts text and image data from many file formats including PDF, TIFF™ or JPEG, into a format that a printing device such as an inkjet printhead, toner marking engine or laser plate-setter can understand. It produces unbeatable quality at very high speed.

“The Harlequin RIP has been compliant with PDF/X standards for over twenty years now (from the original CGATS standard in 1999), and we’re very happy that our commitment to easy and predictable high-quality print is being recognized by listing as compliant with the GWG Output Suite 5.” Martin Bailey, CTO, Global Graphics Software.

Stephan Jaeggi, chair of the Process Control subcommittee, states: “I welcome Global Graphics back as a member of the Ghent Workgroup. Martin Bailey has already significantly contributed to the first version of the Ghent PDF Output Suite in 2006. Therefore, I am glad that Global Graphics has successfully passed the latest Ghent PDF Output Suite 5 compliancy test. The Harlequin RIP is one of the most important PDF RIPs for production printing which is used by many vendors in their PDF output workflows. By using the instructions published on gwg.org all users of these systems can achieve full PDF/X-4 compatibility.”

Click here to find out more about the Ghent PDF Output Suite or its compliant vendors.