Ghent, Belgium – The Ghent Workgroup is happy to announce that ColorGATE Productionserver 10 is now fully compliant with the Ghent PDF Output Suite 5, perfectly processing all 48 test patches, a critical test for determining quality printing of PDF documents.

In 2018, Ghent Workgroup member Ricoh acquired ColorGATE Digital Output Solutions, a commercial and industrial printing software company, with specific competence in workflow & color management. For more than 20 years, ColorGATE has been supporting the graphic arts industry with its printing solutions for the sign & display, décor, ceramic, textile and the packaging industry. By achieving the Ghent PDF Output Suite 5 label for their ColorGATE Productionserver 10, they can help their customers to reach higher levels of production accuracy. 

ColorGATE Productionserver
The Productionserver solutions are based on ColorGATE’s expertise in color management and the intelligent control of printing systems for many different applications. They combine top performance in quality, productivity and automation.

“ColorGATE’s approach to optimum PDF performance is to be as easy as possible for the user. The full Ghent PDF Output Suite v5test form is interpreted and output flawlessly, and with our implementation of the Adobe PDF Print Engine, ColorGATE users can be confident of accurately printed elements in their print-ready PDF/X-4 documents”, says Thomas Kirschner, CEO of ColorGATE.

PDF/X-4 compliant printing in Productionserver
ColorGATE Productionserver utilizes the latest version of the Adobe® PDF Print Engine (APPE) to process PDF files. The Adobe® PDF Print Engine renders content which matches the display in Adobe® Acrobat® and other Adobe® Creative Suite applications. Using the same core Adobe® PDF technology at every stage of the print workflow ensures predictability and eliminates unexpected results. ColorGATE’s implementation of the Adobe® PDF Print Engine within the Productionserver product is based on many years of expertise and development that have included a number of unique differentiators such as the addition of ColorGATE’s unique colour management technology.

“ColorGATE Productionserver allows Ricoh to offer a single software solution across our industrial printing portfolio, achieving high levels of productivity, color quality and output integrity”, comments Graham Kennedy, Head of Commercial Ink Jet Business, Ricoh Industrial Printing Group. “Having Ghent PDF Output Suite compliancy allows Ricoh to demonstrate the benefits of ColorGATE’s Adobe®PDF Print Engine based architecture. Users can confidently handle complex files and design features plus the latest PDF standards out of the box, without compromise."

The Ghent PDF Output Suite
The Ghent Workgroup, an international assembly of industry associations, suppliers and experts, develops specifications and defines best practices for graphic arts workflows; including the rules a PDF document needs to comply to in order to deliver quality print, specific to the production process.

The Ghent PDF Output Suite was created for users who process PDF files in the graphic arts industry, as an aid to determine whether their output workflows are behaving conforming the PDF/X-4 standard. The suite consists of 48 PDF patches. Each patch tests a specific property of a PDF/X-4 file. In version 5.0 additional patches have been added to test ICC-based objects allowed in PDF/X-4 (ISO 15930-7) in order to test device independent workflows.

The Ghent Workgroup offers a compliancy label program for vendor members whose products are compliant with the current version of the Ghent PDF Output Suite.

Stephan Jaeggi, Co-chair of GWG Process Control Subcommittee, adds: “In order to get the Ghent PDF Output Suite Compliancy label, a vendor has to prove that his output workflow can process the six amalgamated pages with the 48 patches of the Ghent Output Suite 5.0, without any issues. In addition, the settings used to achieve this result must be documented and published on https://www.gwg.org/instructions-for-successful-output-with-ghent-pdf-output-suite-5-0/”