MENASHA, WI, September XX, 2003 - Banta Corporation, a technology and market leader in printing and supply-chain management, today announced that its Integrated Media subsidiary released the latest version of its variable data software, DesignMerge (tm) 5.0.  DesignMerge is an add-on component for the desktop publishing application QuarkXPress(tm), which allows users to create customized 1:1 marketing documents by linking a QuarkXPress document to a database file.  The software allows each copy of a printed document to be personalized, changing items such as name, address and graphics, which can be output in a variety of different formats.  DesignMerge 5.0 contains a new rules module for Macintosh users, which provides a suite of powerful, conditional processing features.  Conditional processing (if-then-else statements) provide the ability to perform specific actions based upon the contents of one of more database fields.  The conditional processing capability provides a menu-driven user interface with no need to "hand code" conditional statements and rules can be applied to individual variable links, boxes or QuarkXPress document pages.  In addition, the module allows users to define up to six unique actions either directly through DesignMerge or using AppleScript, which provides users complete control of the document layout. "Banta has really outdone itself with the if-then-else conditional elements," said Brad Rice, graphic/Web designer at HKM, a DesignMerge 5.0 beta tester. "The new conditional logic built in to DesignMerge allows us to make changes directly in our Quark templates without having to redesign our database. It really saves us a lot of time and money." Version 5.0 also contains a new PostScript Driver, for both Macintosh and Windows, which is up to 80 percent faster and includes support for both Image and Forms caching.  The caching features dramatically reduce the size of the resulting PostScript files and can greatly improve merge, printing and imaging speed. "As a long-term user of DesignMerge, I have been thoroughly satisfied with the increase in performance as a result of the new PostScript driver.  DesignMerge has permitted us to reduce both labor costs and production time via its automated desktop publishing process," said Kevin Bollhorst, senior process engineer at Neff Motivation, Inc.  "My tests indicate a 93.8 percent reduction in merge time and a 71.5 percent reduction in start-to-finish time.  With the added bonus of user-friendly Conditional Logic features, I consider DesignMerge 5.0 to be the industry's premier variable data printing software package In addition, the Windows version of DesignMerge now offers support for the Creo Variable Print Specification (VPS).  Although this driver was previously only available on the Macintosh platform, the Windows platform is now able to separate output into reusable objects, ensuring that variable objects are downloaded once in the print stream.  The VPS files produced by this driver are compatible with most CREO RIP/DFE systems, including the Spire system.