Alexandria, VA, USA. August 1, 2005 - SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications), a leading organization in the graphic communications and publication printing industries, today announced their merger with IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance), an association of advertising agencies, printers, publishers, and technology partners. Working within the IDEAlliance infrastructure, SWOP plans to aggressively set a new course to better serve the publication printing industry through its training initiatives, technical specifications and SWOP certification programs. According to Nubar Nakashian, Chairman of SWOP, "Merging with IDEAlliance will provide synergy for both SWOP and IDEAlliance Programs. Working together we can extend the reach of specifications and guidelines across the printing industry." David Steinhardt, President and CEO of IDEAlliance added, "We welcome adding SWOP to the family of IDEAlliance Programs. This move is a direct response to the requirements of the publishing industry to align color management specifications and certification programs across industry segments. No one can afford to support different controls and specifications for the publishing and printing process. Alignment is a must and we are proactively responding to that need." SWOP and IDEAlliance began working together in early 2004 to develop common marketing, publishing, ordering, and fulfillment mechanisms. Printtools (http://www.printtools.org) is now the online one-stop-shop for products from SWOP through a partnership between IDEAlliance and IPA. Moving forward, both SWOP and GRACoL will be developed and published as a coordinated effort. IDEAlliance plans to streamline redundant information that is currently found in the SWOP and GRACoL Specifications and develop a consolidated industry "How to Guide" as a joint technical resource for both publication and commercial printers. Further, the IDEAlliance GRACoL and SWOP Programs will benefit from new industry research projects being conducted by the IDEAlliance Print Properties Committee chaired by Steve Smiley (Vertis), co-chaired by John Sweeney, ICS Color and coordinated by Program Director, Dianne Kennedy, IDEAlliance Vice President of Publishing Technologies. Projects currently on the radar will address substrates, inks, measurement technologies, digital printing, alternate screening technologies and the applicability of metadata in production workflows. The Print Properties Committee is planning research runs on web presses later this year to test the applicability of the new GRACoL process controls and standardizing on gray balance in the SWOP publication printing environment. With the merger of SWOP with IDEAlliance, the SWOP organization has been aligned to be compatible with other IDEAlliance Programs. The new IDEAlliance SWOP Program is composed of the IDEAlliance SWOP Advisory Board (formerly the SWOP Board of Directors) and the IDEAlliance SWOP Review Network (formerly the SWOP Review Committee). The IDEAlliance SWOP Review Network is a group of individuals interested in contributing to the SWOP Specification by providing industry input and direction. This group will meet on August 24 in New York City (sign up at www.idealliance.org). The SWOP Advisory Board oversees the activities of the IDEAlliance SWOP Program according to input from the SWOP Review Network. The SWOP Advisory Board selected its new membership in July. The Advisory Board is maintaining industry outreach by including representatives of six Affiliate Organizations. The SWOP Advisory Board includes: American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) Jim Mikol (Leo Burnett USA)** American Business Media (ABM) Jeremy Carlson (Advanstar Communications)** Gravure Association of America (GAA) Donna Biss (Quad/Graphics) Association of Graphic Solutions Providers (IPA) Neil O'Callaghan Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) Steve Romeo (Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.) PIA/GATF - Web Offset Section Dennis Balas (BRIDGS) Jim Delahanty (McGraw-Hill) Jim Frisch (RR Donnelley)** Elaine Fry (Forbes)** Kin Wah Lam (Time Inc.)** Ken Lantz (Foote Cone & Belding)** Cathy Merolle (Hearst)** Nubar Nakashian (Chair/Tanaseybert, Inc.) Nick Patrissi (Creo) Joel Rubin (Past Chair) Ron Sheffield (Doner) Gina Sigman (Quebecor World) Steve Smiley (Vertis, Inc.)** John Sweeney (Integrated Color Solutions) Larry Warter (Enovation, A Fuji Film Company) Roy Zucca (Vice Chair, Impact Workflow Solutions)