Xeikon launched the 2.50 version of its X-800 digital front-end with the latest Adobe PDF Print Engine, delivering a forward-looking workflow solution that increases levels of flexibility for its customers. The RIP will provide high-powered PDF-native rendering to ensure that the latest transparency effects and other complex design elements can be quickly and reliably reproduced on press, exactly as the designer intended.
The Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.5 is the latest version of Adobe’s PDF rendering technology, built on a modern, modular architecture that maximizes system resources and rendering efficiency. Xeikon customers will benefit from predictable reproduction of sophisticated PDF designs, and increased workflow flexibility to accelerate job throughput, reduce costs and increase profitability.
Industry Standards
Providing outstanding workflow integration capability, the Adobe PDF Print Engine is based on industry standards such as ICC, JDF and PDF. “The Adobe PDF Print Engine harnesses the widespread adoption of the PDF imaging model to accelerate efficiency, reduce costs and increase profitability. Xeikon’s customers place high demands on their presses, so prepress workflow is critical. The Adobe PDF Print Engine will enable them to excel in a highly competitive market with high performance PDF-native processing, and accurate rendering of even the most complex jobs,” comments Mark Lewiecki, Senior Product Manager at Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Raman Nagpal, Senior Director of Printing at Adobe Systems Incorporated, adds: “Xeikon is a pioneer in the field of digital print and remains at the forefront of a rapidly changing industry. So I welcome the news that Xeikon is bringing all the benefits of the Adobe PDF Print Engine to their presses.”
Xeikon customer Reynders Etiketten nv (Belgium) has already tested the X-800 digital front-end driven by the Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.5, and André Vandepitte, Prepress & Digital Print Manager, observed: “We do receive a lot of different PDF files, generated by customers from all places, by different kinds of applications. We have been using the new Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.5 for some months now, and haven’t been able yet to detect any mistake.”
Flexible Upgrade Path
Importantly for Xeikon customers, Xeikon will continue to support the existing PostScript version of the X-800 RIP technology, so that customers can upgrade their workflows to native PDF when the change best suits both them and their client base. Welcoming the addition of an Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.5-driven version of the X-800 digital front-end to Xeikon’s portfolio, Jeroen Van Bauwel, Product Manager for Digital Front-End at Xeikon, comments: “It has always been Xeikon's strength to focus on industry standards, enabling the highest level of integration for our customers. Integration of Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.5 is a natural step in supporting the latest generation of PDF flows for Xeikon technology. The intelligent caching mechanism of repeating elements in the VDP flow fits perfectly with the design of our workflow.”
The X-800 digital front-end is a modular and scalable RIP, based on open standards, that is designed to help users get the most from their Xeikon engines. All models in the Xeikon range of digital presses are compatible with the X-800.
