During the conference, held at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, EFI launched enhancements to its suite of management systems and web-to-print solutions.
“EFI just concluded its most successful Connect users’ conference to date, welcoming more than 1,300 people to Las Vegas for four days of expert-led classes and exposure to the newest technology and trends in the industry,” says Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI Professional Printing Applications.
“We also took the opportunity to preview several upcoming MIS releases and launch the latest versions of our Hagen OA and PrinterSite Fulfilment offerings.”
Participants learned first-hand about product direction and the future of print technologies from EFI executives, and attended a special “fireside chat” with Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen, who shared his vision for the company and the industry.
Attendees were able to ‘test drive’ the latest EFI products in the lab area, go to more than 200 educational sessions, network with peers, and visit exhibits from 21 of the industry’s leading companies.
To coincide with the start of Connect, EFI shipped a feature-packed upgrade to its industry-leading EFI Hagen(TM) OA management system. Version 9.0 has tighter integration with EFI PrinterSite(R) products, a more robust desktop interface, and key enhancements to estimating to handle both multi-web and grand format printing capabilities.
The system now has integration to both Manhattan Associate’s Integrated Logistics Solutions for advanced warehouse management and their Outbound Shipping solution.
Product integration was a key message at this year’s conference, and the company announced integration of its PrinterSite Exchange web-to-print solution with Hagen 9.0 and also demonstrated the existing connectivity to Logic.
This integration lets printers’ customers submit jobs from the popular web application, and then enables the printing plant to manage the planning, production, scheduling, invoicing and accounting of those jobs from within the Hagen MIS environment.
Also at Connect, EFI released the latest version of PrinterSite(R) Fulfilment, its client-facing web-to-print solution with integration to Hagen, Logic and PSI print management systems.
With new VDP tools from XMPie, and integration of PrinterSite Fulfilment with USADATA’s List Module, users of version 3.0 can now order sophisticated direct mail campaigns and fulfilment programs using corporate-approved collateral, mailers and lists in minutes.
The upcoming release of Logic(TM) SQL was on display for the first time at Connect. Available in Q3, Logic 22.05 will offer first-time JDF support, tighter integration with PrinterSite Fulfilment and Exchange, and greater workflow and customisation capabilities.
EFI also previewed the next version of its PSI(TM) system, displaying a new ‘Product Master’ module and many customer-requested enhancements. Version 12.0 is expected to ship next month.
In addition, the company announced separate collaborations with Artwork Systems and Presstek. EFI’s efforts to ensure customers’ success in migrating to an offset/digital hybrid environment now includes joint work with Artwork Systems, Agfa, Screen, Rampage and Presstek, among other partners.
EFI Connect 2007 is planned for June 10-13 at the Wynn Las Vegas.
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