Executive team members from Hybrid Software Group celebrate winning two PRINTING United Pinnacle Product Awards 2023

Cambridge, (UK): Hybrid Software Group is proud to announce that products from two of its operating companies have received prestigious awards from the PRINTING United Alliance. Global Graphics Software’s SmartDFE™ has received a 2023 Pinnacle Product Award in the Technology category. In addition, ColorLogic GmbH has also been honored with a 2023 PRINTING United Pinnacle Product Award in the Non-Output Device category for its CoPrA 9 color management technology.

“Color management was the missing piece in our technology stack for digital printing of labels and packaging, and we filled that with the acquisition of industry-leader ColorLogic GmbH last year,” notes Mike Rottenborn, Hybrid Software Group CEO. “SmartDFE breaks through the performance ceiling for digital printing, combining on-the-fly color management with powerful workflow automation from HYBRID Software, real-time rasterization via Harlequin Direct™, and the inkjet expertise of Meteor Inkjet and Xitron. We believe that it’s critical to develop these technologies in-house rather than license them from third parties who lack the deep industry expertise of our team of 280 employees. Our mission is simple: we’re the technology at the heart of industrial printing, with a technology stack that is unmatched in the industry, and we’re honored and grateful to be recognized with these important awards.”

SmartDFE is a turnkey Digital Front End for high-speed, single-pass presses printing fully variable data. Built upon Harlequin Direct, the world’s fastest PDF RIP, it provides rasterization and inkjet drop generation for the best possible image quality and quickest printing speeds. Its automation capabilities provide complete control of the print workflow as well as valuable information for QA and inspection, press maintenance and stock control. Thus, SmartDFE transforms the role of the inkjet printer: it not only meets the demands of OEMs who need to build wider and faster digital presses, but also meets the requirement to add a print subsystem to a manufacturing operation or a smart factory to produce mass-personalized products. OEMs can choose to take as much or as little as they require from the software stack to get their digital inkjet presses to market.

ColorLogic’s CoPrA 9 is an essential asset for any print manufacturer embracing extended gamut printing. CoPrA creates high-quality ICC profiles for any color space and printing process—digital or conventional—and is a key component of the powerful ColorLogic Suite for a complete color management solution. CoPrA also plays a key role building spectral profiles in SmartDFE so, in effect; it earned two awards this year.

Hybrid Software Group and its individual operating companies intend to make several major OEM announcements at both Labelexpo Europe and Printing United Expo over the next two months.