Mortsel, Belgium – March 28, 2013 — Agfa Graphics announced that the latest version of the :Apogee Suite 8 PDF workflow, which is now available world-wide, features a series of new tools for volume printers, allowing them to optimize their production resources. :Apogee Suite 8 runs natively on 64-bit Windows Server operating systems. It optimizes the use of the available processing hardware and takes full advantage of virtualization software. Agfa Graphics' new web printing imposition takes into account every parameter of a web press to automatically define the best imposition, including cutting, slitting, folding, binding, and much more.

:Apogee 8 also helps print service providers (PSP's) to extend their market reachand gain new customers. It starts with tight integration with :Apogee StoreFront, the cloud-based web-to-print solution that makes it easy for PSP’s to set up internet stores or 'storefronts' for both printed and non-printed products. Online orders can be downloaded into and processed by the :Apogee workflow without operator intervention. This automation allows PSP's to provide new services for their customers and create a true B2B environment.

“This is great for typical e-commerce environments. :Apogee StoreFront gives printers the opportunity to automate customer communication with jobs of any size, typically the smaller or repeat jobs,” said Andy Grant, Global Director of Software, Agfa Graphics. “:Apogee 8 also features a ’Merge Jobs‘ functionality, which merges jobs that have similar characteristics, such as paper type or ink sets, to be imposed on one sheet for cutting later. It’s another convenience tool offered by :Apogee that can help printers become more productive.”

An additional enhancement to :Apogee Suite 8 is :Apogee Preflight, which offers improved color management. :Apogee Preflight verifies that color profiles are attached to all objects and automatically updates incorrect profiles. :Apogee Preflight also makes the necessary adjustments should the output target change.