New York City, New York– March 8, 2005. The DDAP Association (Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications), a key industry group charged with advocating standards-based digital workflow announced today their new affiliation with IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance), an association advancing standards and best practices for publishing and content-driven enterprises. David Steinhardt, IDEAlliance CEO made the announcement at a Media Breakfast held in conjunction with the PrintMedia Conference at the Hilton New York. Since 1992, the DDAP Association has been a leading graphic arts industry group charged with promoting "Universal Exchange of Advertising through Open Process Integration and Accredited Standards." With the focus on digital delivery of advertising, this group has advocated the use of accredited file formats in digital workflows and supported its members' transition to digital ad delivery through the development of educational tools and seminars to build solid business practices. IDEAlliance has been a leader in information technology and publishing since 1966, advancing core information technology to develop standards and best practices to enhance efficiency and speed information all facets of publishing – creation, production, management, and delivery of knowledge-based content – digitally and in print. The resolution for these two groups to affiliate was passed unanimously by the DDAP Executive Committee and ratified March 4, 2005 by the IDEAlliance Board of Directors. The goal of this new partnership is to promote the print media industry’s adoption of standardized specifications and guidelines through the development of an industry-wide Best Practices initiative for digital workflow, leveraging IDEAlliance educational seminars and peer support networks to support this aim. DDAP members will be offered the opportunity to transition their current DDAP membership into an IDEAlliance network group membership. “IDEAlliance looks forward to welcoming DDAP members into our fold. As the IDEAlliance Network Group concept expands, we are able to offer access to an increasing number of resources and unique pool of talents that is unprecedented in the print media industry. By coordinating the critical missions of groups like DDAP, Digital Ad Lab, DISC, SWOP, GRACoL and Print Properties Committee on an operational level, we can have significant impact on the efficiency and speed knowledge-based content is delivered.” “This new affiliation,” adds Barbara Hanapole, former DDAP Executive Director, “is a clear indication that we are listening to the industry call for better coordination and support of industry standards activities, better time efficiency for our members and better use of our resources. It’s a natural for us to collaborate with IDEAlliance on this new Best Practices Initiative, and we are excited by the potential synergies of working more closely with Digital Ad Lab, DISC, SWOP, GRACoL, Print Properties Committee and the other IDEAlliance network groups.” Hanapole will remain actively involved with DDAP’s new mission. In support of the coordination of industry specification groups, DDAP will be working specifically with the newly launched IDEAlliance Print Properties Committee and Digital Ad Lab to align PDF/X initiatives within North America, and create synergies and build consensus with standards work being done internationally. DDAP’s primary role will be identifying and publishing the best practices associated with standards-based digital workflow. The partnership with the DDAP Association to advance best practices is part of a largereffort to supplement the IDEAlliance mission “to advancing user-driven, cross-industry specifications and best practices for all publishing and content-driven enterprises.” Additional information on all these programs may be accessed from the IDEAlliance website at: www.idealliance.org.