Houston (May 30, 2002) - Objective Advantage Inc., a Houston-based software development company, is building the JDF Development Platform to help the print industry bring its software into compliance with JDF and JMF, the new common format advocated by CIP4, the industry standards body.  The JDF Development Platform is intended to allow print industry software and equipment providers to capitalize on the JDF research and development already done by Objective Advantage. Using the JDP, those in the print industry can move forward rapidly with JDF/JMF integration. JDF, the Job Definition Format, is a job ticket specification containing every piece of information needed to produce a piece of print, from design to finishing, in a standardized XML format. XML, the common language of data exchange on the Internet, provides a widely embraced, open standard technology for data exchange and transformation. JMF, the Job Messaging Format, facilitates real-time communication between print MIS systems, computerized workflow control systems, and pre-press, press and post-press equipment. Objective Advantage has gained experience in JDF development while building the TripleArc Collaborative Workflow System and Catalogue System over the past two years. The CWS is a secure Internet-based procurement platform that can be used by all parties involved in the print and publishing process. It is one of the first computer systems to be designed and built around JDF. "At IPEX in April we found an overwhelming thirst for information on JDF," said Gareth O'Brien, vice president of Objective Advantage. "Both equipment and software vendors realize that customers are looking for JDF compliance. It seems that people who came to IPEX with a 'wait and see' attitude to JDF, left with a sense that JDF has been accepted and is the future of the industry."  The JDP is being built using Microsoft .NET, a software technology platform for building, deploying, operating and integrating XML Web services. As more print industry systems begin to use JDF, the power of .NET will help make the JDP effective in a broad range of print industry applications.