Alpharetta, GA--August 1, 2006-- Apago Inc., a software developer for the graphic arts and document management industries, today released PDF Appraiser, the first application of its kind to support both validation and automatic correction of documents in accordance with PDF/A, the new international standard for long-term archiving of digital documents. PDF/A is the much-anticipated standard for long-term archiving of digital documents, and it is expected to become the preferred archival method for governments and industry segments, including corporations, legal, libraries, regulated industries, and others. Apago is leading the way for the rapid adoption of the new standard by offering PDF/A validation capabilities at no cost. “Widespread adoption of new standards is impossible until there are reliable, low-cost, easy-to-use tools. We are pleased to release PDF Appraiser, the first application for PDF/A verification and correction, which will simplify the process of long-term archiving of documents across many industries,” states Dwight Kelly, president of Apago Inc. “The free version of PDF Appraiser enables users to check documents for PDF/A compliance, while the full version adds the ability to automatically correct problems and to access more technically detailed reports. As with all Apago’s products, we designed PDF Appraiser so that users don’t have to be PDF experts to create PDF/A-compliant files.” Documents are the cornerstone of many businesses; and today, digital documents are rapidly replacing paper ones. PDF/A, approved by ISO (International Organization for Standardization), is a standard that specifies requirements for archiving and preserving digital documents in the Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF/A addresses the growing need to electronically archive documents in a way that will ensure both the preservation of their contents over an extended period of time and that those documents can be retrieved and rendered with consistent and predictable results in the future. PDF Appraiser’s elegant user interface makes it easy for beginner, intermediate, and advanced users to verify, interpret, and correct problems. If a file fails verification, PDF Appraiser generates a report outlining what problems must be corrected. With Auto-Fixer, an automatic repair feature, the application can quickly fix most problems in order to obtain a document that is compliant with PDF/A. If the file cannot be automatically repaired, PDF Appraiser lists the problems with its customizable reports, allowing the user to fix and recheck the file for PDF/A compliance. Apago’s Chief Innovation Officer, Leonard Rosenthol, has participated in the development of PDF/A since the initial exploratory meetings about the standard. “Other PDF/A validation tools perform incomplete validation or only implement a draft of the PDF/A specification, but PDF Appraiser ensures that a document is fully compliant with the published PDF/A standard. Appraiser utilities a revolutionary new method for analyzing PDF files at the deepest levels and for creating customizable reports that are easy to understand by our users,” says Rosenthol. The full version of PDF Appraiser for Windows is shipping now. The free version is limited to PDF/A verification and simple reporting. For access to the full features of the application, users can purchase a license for $349. A Server version for Windows is available for $999. Server and API versions will also be available in Q3 2006 for Mac OS X, Solaris, and Linux. For more information, visit http://www.apagoinc.com/pdfappraiser or call Apago at 770-619-1884. GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO will take place October 15-18 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Already exhibit space has topped 400,000 square feet, with nearly 600 exhibiting companies in attendance. GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO will be the largest national show since 2000. Firms of all sizes will be able to find technology and supplies that fit their needs at this impressive event. Among the attendees will be high-level executives from the largest printing companies in America. Audience data from the previous GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, compared to the listing of top firms published by Printing Impressions magazine, indicates that of the 50 largest U.S. print companies, 86 percent sent at least one representative to the show. Of the largest 100 companies, nearly 80 percent had high-ranking managers on hand in Chicago, exploring the latest technologies and growth opportunities. Even if the statistical view is widened to include the 400 largest companies, GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO still draws attendees from nearly two-thirds of these firms. At the same time, the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) points out that the show’s audience is almost equally divided between companies with more than $10 million in annual sales and those with less - that is, that very large companies are by no means the only ones sending their managers to the show. Similarly, while 39% of attendees at the last GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO came from companies with more than 100 employees, 61 percent came from smaller shops. “Regardless of the size of their companies, executives throughout the industry recognize that investigating and purchasing at GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO is a superb strategy for growth and enhanced profits,” says GASC President Ralph Nappi. “The biggest companies in the business understand that smart technology investment is the key to staying successful, while smaller firms realize that technology can open up promising growth avenues for shops of any size.”