CHICAGO, Sept. 29, 2003 – Xerox Corporation is advancing the world of production printing with a cadre of workflow announcements and initiatives aimed at developing high-growth applications that deliver competitive advantages to print providers. Under its umbrella workflow strategy, the Xerox FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection provides simple access to a comprehensive collection of Xerox and partner offerings that span all aspects of workflow, from design to delivery. They also enable printers to leverage investments already made in workflow technologies and provide more ways to make money. “Workflow is a critical enabler of the new revenue-generating applications and cost-saving efficiencies that drive success for print providers,” said Gil Hatch, president, Xerox Production Systems Group. “The FreeFlow initiative is the first step to helping print providers capture these opportunities by developing the industry’s most comprehensive, open, standards-based digital workflow capabilities.” New Variable Data SDKs Leading today’s announcements is a series of three new software development kits (SDKs) for variable data print application creators. The SDKs provide the necessary tools to develop software applications using Xerox’s Variable data Intelligent PostScript Printware (VIPP) as the foundation. The result is a series of new VIPP-based solutions customized for a variety of customer requirements. The three new Xerox variable information production SDKs are: - The Emitter SDK, for writing variable information applications that enable efficient emission of Xerox VIPP. - The Projects SDK, for writing variable information applications that enable efficient management and editing of project elements such as fonts, forms, images and other components that reside on the printer during variable information printing. - The De-centralized Printers Resource Management SDK, providing a simple means for developers to prepare VIPP resources for deployment on de-centralized printers that have either limited user interfaces or no media drives. Using VIPP as the foundation to these SDKs, Xerox is enabling partners to develop software programs that fit into virtually any customer environment and workflow. Xerox has 12 partners with VIPP-based solutions and another 10 partners using SDKs to develop future software applications. In addition to the SDKs, Xerox is announcing new partner initiatives, new developments to industry standards and new releases to software. More Than 100 FreeFlow Partners To date, more than 100 industry-leading companies are currently working with Xerox on various workflow-related initiatives. Three strategic partners — Adobe, Creo and EFI — announced joint developments with Xerox today, including a commitment to developing and supporting several key production printing standards. Adobe and Xerox will jointly support and promote the widespread adoption of standards including PDF, JDF job ticketing, PPML Graphic Arts Conformance Subset, PostScript and XML in variable information workflow technologies. Creo and Xerox are bringing the capability to manage both offset and digital printing from the same workflow, a commitment made by Creo’s Network Graphic Production initiative, where Xerox is a member. The capability allows users to wait until the last step of the workflow process to decide whether to print on digital or offset – or both. Finally, EFI’s Velocity Balance workflow is now integrated into the new 4.0 release of Xerox DigiPath. Velocity Balance further extends DigiPath’s capabilities and allows simultaneous job submission to multiple EFI Fiery and DocuSP driven printers. New Releases of Xerox FreeFlow Software Rounding out the day’s announcements, Xerox introduced a number of new releases to several products in the Xerox FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection that include: - DigiPath Production Software version 4.0, now offering more features to support and enhance color documents, PDF based workflows and improved web functionality to the more than 13,000 license holders worldwide. The new release is delivered on the latest Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003 platforms. - VIPP Workflow 3.0, software products to develop a range of variable print applications designed to help estimate run lengths, costs and other metrics prior to a variable information print run. New features include Web-based remote access to the VIPP Thin Printer and automated distribution to e-mail addresses, Web sites, fax machines and electronic file repositories. - DocuSP 3.7 server, featuring batch-job forwarding to Xerox and non-Xerox printers, spot color editing, soft preview of print jobs, enhancements to the automated imposition feature and several quality enhancements. DocuSP Remote Workflow provides hands-on management of any DocuSP-driven printer in the enterprise from the desktop. These are available across the entire family of 28 Xerox monochrome and color DocuSP-based printers. A complete list of FreeFlow workflow capabilities offered by Xerox and its partners is published in a new workflow solutions catalog that is available from www.xerox.com. Pricing and Availability Xerox’s FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection is sold through the Xerox direct sales force, agents and concessionaires. Pricing and availability varies by product and geography.