The SpencerLab Digital Color Laboratory has announced the latest update, version 4.4, to the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite. This update is available for immediate access at www.spencerlab.com/MySpencerLab. If you are a current licensee of the Suite, this update is included with your annual subscription – at no charge.
 
 This most recent update of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite continues SpencerLab’s commitment to providing a comprehensive tool for Print Quality analysis and printer benchmarking – an invaluable resource for digital printers of today. Although, Print Quality analysis is still the fundamental assessment in printer benchmarking, as technologies evolve, print speeds increase, and substrate choices expand, Durability has become an key concern among hardware manufacturers, paper and ink suppliers, print service providers, and end-users. Acknowledging this trend, SpencerLab developed a set of 11 new test files – the Durability Suite – with files facilitating Abrasion, Smudge, Highlighter Smear, Fold and Crease, Adhesion, Scratch Resistance, and Waterfastness testing.
 
 New features and enhancements in the latest version of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite include:

   ◊ Addition of Durability Suite of test files:
      • SpencerLab Abrasion files – Monochrome & Color versions
      • SpencerLab Highlighter files – Monochrome & Color versions
      • SpencerLab Fold file
      • SpencerLab Waterfastness files – Monochrome; Color version in large Format & US letter-size
      • SpencerLab Durability Tints files – Monochrome; Color version in large Format & US letter-size

   ◊ File update:
       • SpencerLab Collage file – Enhanced color correction of memory colors
 
 To celebrate the new update, SpencerLab is currently offering special, limited time discount opportunities through 31 January 2012:  20% off the license fee for the Test Suite which includes one year of tech support and free updates, and for current subscribers, 20% off the 2012 annual subscription fee.
 
 ''As the industry continues to expand, so does the need to address arising concerns. In the continuation of SpencerLab tradition of being in the forefront of understanding clients’ needs and responding to such, this version 4.4 release provides our licensees with files for measurement and assessment of print Durability. The reality is that hard copy output is produced to be used, and in that usage it encounters various degrading forces,'' said Catherine Fiasconaro, Director of the Laboratory and Vice President, Operations. ''The Durability Suite is just one more solution SpencerLab provides to the digital imaging community for comprehensive product testing and evaluation. SpencerLab’s Durability Suite provides the ability to measure and assess how today’s technology endures.''
 
 The SpencerLab Printer Test Suite consists of over three gigabytes of data, includes more than 90 test files (in over 200 adaptations, printing over 500 pages), and covers the full breadth of market segments, including: Consumer, SMB/Office/Enterprise, Photographic, Graphic Arts, Large Format and Production. The Suite has become a printing industry standard for print and image quality analysis. Files include black-and-white as well as color; color-managed RGB and CMYK; PostScript, PDF, and application formats; output sizes ranging from 4x6'' through large format; and both U.S. and international page sizes.
 
 Availability
 The version 4.4 update is available immediately at no cost to current subscribers of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite – the update is automatically available at their MySpencerLab login page. For information on how to become a site licensee of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite, visit www.spencerlab.com or e-mail [email protected].
 
 Background
 Assisted by over a dozen key corporate sponsors, SpencerLab has shared its expertise in Print Quality, Throughput Speed/Availability, Toner/Ink Yield and associated Cost-per-Print, Usability and Reliability analysis in the development and refinement of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite. Since its 1990 introduction as the CHQF Test Suite, it has become a generally accepted de facto standard in facilitating evaluation of Print Quality. Test files in the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite complement recent and forthcoming ISO/IEC standards (SpencerLab participated in their development for nearly a decade).