Fiery, the digital front end (DFE) server and print workflow business of graphic arts technology company EFI, has introduced new cloud capabilities and additional productivity enhancements for print businesses in its latest version.

Version 6.8 of the EFI Fiery Command WorkStation job management solution boasts EFI IQ cloud integration, giving Command WorkStation users the ability to back up and restore their customised user interface settings, local presets, and imposition templates.

With a click of button, they can invite other Command WorkStation users in their print shop, or at other company locations, to download and install common settings and resources. A shop can optimise Command WorkStation for all users even in multiple locations for a faster and more flexible way to consistently manage jobs knowing that their configurations are saved securely in their company’s EFI IQ cloud account.

With the same EFI IQ account, managers can easily take advantage of cloud applications to extract value from their print shop data to minimise bottlenecks, optimise equipment utilisation, and track performance by shift.

Features included for use with an unlimited number of cut-sheet digital printers include: 

• EFI IQ Dashboard, an application that provides a personalised view of printer status, consumables and job status right now;
• EFI Insight, an application that helps managers transform print production trend data into actionable analytics that drive business improvement;
• EFI Notify, an application that delivers alerts for production-blocking events and enables automatic production report distribution; and
• EFI Go, a mobile app that delivers EFI IQ dashboard metrics, notifications and more to busy managers to monitor operations even while they are not on site. 

“This new version of Command WorkStation is a significant milestone in our strategy to improve Fiery capability with EFI IQ cloud services,” EFI Fiery vice-president of sales and marketing John Henze said.

“Using the familiar Command WorkStation interface, users can now access cloud services to better manage both their print jobs and their business.” 

Print businesses can also gain flexibility and faster job set up by using the new selective preset capability in Command WorkStation 6.8.

Now, users can define settings that only apply to specific aspects of a job, leaving all other original settings untouched. Using server presets can reduce the time it takes to prepare incoming files and get jobs ready for production by 80 per cent.

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