Reston, Virginia (February 4, 2005) - The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress (CIP4) and NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES) today announced that the PrintTalk specification and schema will be transferred to CIP4 for its long-term maintenance and distribution. PrintTalk is the specification for the interface and exchange of business data between printers and prepress services and their customers. PrintTalk makes use of the Job Definition Format (JDF) and JDF directly incorporates PrintTalk business objects. Under the terms of the agreement, CIP4 will distribute the PrintTalk schema and specification at no charge, and will ensure that PrintTalk is kept current with future versions of the JDF Specifications. PrintTalk will cease to exist as a separate organization, and its members who are not already members of CIP4 will continue the term of their PrintTalk membership under CIP4 until their next renewal date, at which time they will be offered CIP4 membership. "The PrintTalk standard is mature and the 'pairing' with JDF under CIP4 enhances the capabilities of both, as well as insuring continued interoperability in the future", said William K. Kip Smythe Vice President of NPES, and PrintTalk's President. "This move makes sense for PrintTalk and JDF, and the PrintTalk board of directors easily came to the consensus decision that this was the right thing to do." "JDF supports the lifecycle of print information and that lifecycle begins with the customer's RFP and order." said CIP4 Executive Director James Harvey. "Printers and JDF-enabled MIS systems that incorporate PrintTalk can preserve customer data from its origination, saving time in data entry and communication, and reducing communications errors. The relationship between JDF and PrintTalk is a comfortable and natural fit." "We've made it very clear over the years that ensuring that JDF connects well with other print standards is as important a part of CIP4's as developing JDF itself." said CIP4 CEO, Martin Bailey. "I'm very pleased to see that we've delivered well enough on that promise that we're trusted to continue that process in this way." As part of the agreement, NPES will become an appointed CIP4 member, and to ensure continuity, Jim Mekis will serve as NPES' representative to CIP4.