“There have been several major iterations of XMF since we introduced it, but this is probably the biggest technology step-change for three or four years,” said Fujifilm Europe ESBU workflow business strategy manager John Davies. XMF Workflow v5.5 uses Adobe’s new Mercury RIP technology, which was officially launched yesterday as part of the latest Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE 3). Fuji said it worked closely with Adobe on the integration of the Mercury architecture in XMF 5.5. Among the headline upgrades to XMF 5.5 are a raft of variable data and productivity enhancements that optimise print production on Fuji’s digital inkjet presses, the Jet Press 720 and 540W. According to Davies, when XMF was launched in 2007 as the first APPE-powered workflow, it signalled a new era in workflow technology. “But the latest digital print technologies, predominantly web fed, have created a whole new dimension of productivity, speed and processing pressures and the new Adobe Mercury RIP architecture allows XMF to automatically scale its capabilities depending on what work is coming at it.” He said that the XMF 5.5 added a “huge amount of processing power” for ‘regular’ printing, but with Mercury’s parallel processing, multi-tier caching and dynamic load balancing v5.5 also has the flexibility to cope with data-rich variable data printing (VDP). The latest version also boasts a new database and users can also prioritise jobs, enabling the RIP to automatically weight its processing power towards these jobs, while others are still processing in the background. “We’ve known for a while that printers are having to handle more jobs, with shorter run lengths, which means more jobs going though the RIP. So now if you have 30 or 40 jobs all turning up at once you can deal with those and get them out,” said Davies. “For VDP, what the new system also does automatically is recognise every pixel area that doesn’t change and intelligently only renders the areas that are different – not just text, but image blend-wise too.” While the variable data functionality is primarily targeted at Fuji’s Jet Press 540W, Davies said it also potentially applied to the sheetfed Jet Press 720. He added that v5.5 is also ideally suited to hybrid litho and digital environments. MIS integration has also been boosted in the latest incarnation of XMF, with v5.5 securing full CIP4 certification for the first time. XMF’s flagship 3D proofing functionality has also been upgraded, with 3D proofs now generated automatically. Version 5.5 is available immediately, having been in beta with a number of undisclosed companies. According to Fuji, v5.5 pricing is “on par” with XMF v5....

Four surveys, on which the trend reports will be based, will be carried out between early 2014 and the start of the Düsseldorf trade fair in 2016. Around 65,000 “top decision-makers” listed on Messe Dusseldorf’s database of previous Drupa visitors, will be invited to take part in the surveys. The questionnaires are currently being developed in partnership with Printfuture in the UK and Swiss market research firm Wissler & Partner and will focus on specific areas affecting the printing industry across the world. The first will explore what impact the transition to online communication is having on the printing industry as well as the opportunities that it presents for printers. The subject of subsequent surveys, which could examine areas such as cross-media and digital take up, will be decided closer to their publications. Printfuture managing director Neil Falconer, who is developing the questions and will provide a “deep analysis” of the data, said the new reports could potentially be the most important in the industry yet and the first to give a “true global sense of what is going on in different regions”. “Unlike the smaller, more localised surveys that are quite common in the industry and tend to be around install numbers, this will be on a much larger scale and will focus on specific trends in different geographical regions and how printers are adapting to them,” he said. Alternating with the trend reports will be the Drupa barometer, which will provide data from the same respondents but will be an overview of the state of the industry, investments and global install numbers. The first barometer is due to be published in January with a further three before Drupa 2016. Messe Düsseldorf president and chief executive Werner Dornscheidt said: “In view of the fundamental structural changes in the print industry, current and comprehensive information and market data is more important than ever.” “With these new tools we can provide our exhibitors and the industry as a whole with important new insights thereby delivering vital information for strategic decision-making.” “I expect these results to also produce concrete, valuable information for the strategic development of Drupa,” he added. Both the Drupa trend and barometer reports, which will be available in print or to download on www.drupa.de, will be free to those that took part in the surveys and to exhibitors, while others will pay €249 per copy....

Four surveys, on which the trend reports will be based, will be carried out between early 2014 and the start of the Düsseldorf trade fair in 2016. Around 65,000 “top decision-makers” listed on Messe Dusseldorf’s database of previous Drupa visitors, will be invited to take part in the surveys. The questionnaires are currently being developed in partnership with Printfuture in the UK and Swiss market research firm Wissler & Partner and will focus on specific areas affecting the printing industry across the world. The first will explore what impact the transition to online communication is having on the printing industry as well as the opportunities that it presents for printers. The subject of subsequent surveys, which could examine areas such as cross-media and digital take up, will be decided closer to their publications. Printfuture managing director Neil Falconer, who is developing the questions and will provide a “deep analysis” of the data, said the new reports could potentially be the most important in the industry yet and the first to give a “true global sense of what is going on in different regions”. “Unlike the smaller, more localised surveys that are quite common in the industry and tend to be around install numbers, this will be on a much larger scale and will focus on specific trends in different geographical regions and how printers are adapting to them,” he said. Alternating with the trend reports will be the Drupa barometer, which will provide data from the same respondents but will be an overview of the state of the industry, investments and global install numbers. The first barometer is due to be published in January with a further three before Drupa 2016. Messe Düsseldorf president and chief executive Werner Dornscheidt said: “In view of the fundamental structural changes in the print industry, current and comprehensive information and market data is more important than ever.” “With these new tools we can provide our exhibitors and the industry as a whole with important new insights thereby delivering vital information for strategic decision-making.” “I expect these results to also produce concrete, valuable information for the strategic development of Drupa,” he added. Both the Drupa trend and barometer reports, which will be available in print or to download on www.drupa.de, will be free to those that took part in the surveys and to exhibitors, while others will pay €249 per copy....

The first issue of the new 100-page Urban Active goes on sale today with the October edition of Men’s Health. The title is printed by Wyndeham Heron, which also prints Men’s Health magazine, on 80gsm gloss text stock with a 250gsm gloss art cover. Urban Active is described as a luxury sports fashion title covering luxury gym and sports streetwear as well as outdoor clothing and luxury accessories. The supplement will feature high-end advertising from brands such as Porsche, Armani and Tommy Hilfiger. Publisher Hearst-Rodale has also issued a 24-page women’s version in the October issue of its Women’s Health magazine, also out today. Men’s Health publisher Duncan Chater said Urban Active had been launched in response to reader demand for greater coverage of luxury sport and streetwear. “As the leading men’s lifestyle brand, Men’s Health is proud to offer the first dedicated sport luxury fashion magazine to the UK consumer. We were delighted to partner with Harrods on this project as they have the most extensive selection of premium brands in this sector,” he added. Both supplements will be launched today in the sports department of Harrods....

The first issue of the new 100-page Urban Active goes on sale today with the October edition of Men’s Health. The title is printed by Wyndeham Heron, which also prints Men’s Health magazine, on 80gsm gloss text stock with a 250gsm gloss art cover. Urban Active is described as a luxury sports fashion title covering luxury gym and sports streetwear as well as outdoor clothing and luxury accessories. The supplement will feature high-end advertising from brands such as Porsche, Armani and Tommy Hilfiger. Publisher Hearst-Rodale has also issued a 24-page women’s version in the October issue of its Women’s Health magazine, also out today. Men’s Health publisher Duncan Chater said Urban Active had been launched in response to reader demand for greater coverage of luxury sport and streetwear. “As the leading men’s lifestyle brand, Men’s Health is proud to offer the first dedicated sport luxury fashion magazine to the UK consumer. We were delighted to partner with Harrods on this project as they have the most extensive selection of premium brands in this sector,” he added. Both supplements will be launched today in the sports department of Harrods....