A new venue and scores of new technology solutions have the industry abuzz about the upcoming AIIM and ON DEMAND tradeshows. This year, the co-located shows are predicted to draw roughly 30,000 professionals to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, May 17–19, to share ideas and discover new innovations.
With the AIIM and ON DEMAND tradeshows managed by Advanstar as a backdrop, Philadelphia Mayor John Street has issued an official proclamation designating the week of May 16 as Business Technology Week.
Now more than ever, as we see a surge in spending in the digital document and printing markets, we anticipate an exciting joint tradeshow. We’ve given an overview of just a few of the products on hand from the AIIM Enterprise Content Management vendors and from the ON DEMAND digital printing category presenters.
AIIM EXPO
Group 1
A visit to the Group 1 (a Pitney Bowes Company) booth, will offer a look at their Customer Communication Management (CCM) solution suite. The CCM solution suite helps organizations generate personalized customer communications and integrate and deliver data across the enterprise. CCM, a unique offering that includes both software and hardware, enables organizations to maximize the value of their corporate data and produce and deliver fully personalized, consistent, and relevant communications through multiple print and electronic channels. CCM is comprised of seven distinct steps that encompass the full spectrum of customer communications activities — from data ingestion and document composition all the way through to production and postal services.
Hyland Software
From Hyland Software, the OnBase Reporter is a standalone, version-independent reporting application that can be used in client/server and Web-based environments to dynamically generate reports about scanning, workflow, usage, storage, or other aspects of an OnBase system. The Document Knowledge Transfer module assists organizations in distributing and auditing required reading documents for workforces. The OnBase Physical Records Management module allows for managing and monitoring physical and electronic records through a single OnBase interface.
Optical Image Technology
During the past year, Optical Image Technology (OIT) has focused on expanding its DocFinity Suite of products. Three new products have been added and major upgrades have also been made to other parts of the suite.
DocFinity’s newest addition is the DocFinity Associative Search module, capable of doing full text searches of files. Also new is the DocFinity Form Processor, which is able to extract information from almost any type of document. To address monitoring needs, OIT has added the DocFinity Statboard to its suite as well. The DocFinity Viewer, an application contained within the newest version of the DocFinity IntraVIEWER, has been rewritten using Java. The application can view almost any file format, and is capable of making annotations as an overlay to the files.
Solimar Systems
Solimar Systems will showcase Solimar Print/Director version 5.15 with the new SMART Processor component, designed to enhance finishing workflows and establish sophisticated processing rules for data streams. Another recent release, SOLsearcher Enterprise v2.16 provides enhanced electronic document distribution, with secure access to electronic documents via a standard Web browser.
Xerox Corporation
Xerox will discuss the findings from a recent study of CIOs and IT managers conducted by research firm IDC that identified a document management (DM) strategy as a key, but overlooked driver of business growth. Results found companies that take document management seriously are more likely to spur growth, reduce costs, and respond quickly to changing market conditions.
The study confirms that companies who lead their industry in revenue growth are far more likely to have a formal, centralized document strategy than their counterparts with average profit growth. By establishing DM initiatives, organizations not only realize additional annual savings, they are more productive, more innovative, and have more satisfied customers.
ON DEMAND
Banner American Products, Inc.
Banner American will be exhibiting its Foliant laminators for on demand lamination of digital color output in commercial print shops and publishers. The affordable Foliant Series laminators provide a solution for single side lamination of book covers, brochures, and magazine covers. They come with a microprocessor to control speed and temperature, a decurling device, and a display panel that identifies remaining film.
Encad
Encad has the unique ability to offer customers a total solution of wide format printers, inks, and media, solidified by 100 years of Kodak image and color science. Their visitors will get to see the company’s newest wide format printer, the NovaJet 1000i, at work. The unit boasts a print resolution up to 1200x600 and can output 150 square feet per hour in Productivity mode or 220 square feet per hour in High Speed mode.
The company will demonstrate several enhancements to the NovaJet 1000i Software Suite, including more accurate ink use tracking, remote printer management via email or cell phone, and advanced accounting.
"We’ll be demonstrating several of those product improvements that enable print-for-profit, in-plant printers, and service bureaus to improve their productivity and increase their digital printing opportunities," said Philip Cullimore, Encad’s VP of Printers and Inks.
Exstream Software
Exstream Software will feature Dialogue v5, a standout product in the industry for personalized document creation, campaign management and tracking, and multi-channel delivery.
Also on display will be Exstream’s Internet browser-based design capability, Dialogue Anywhere for Marketing, which allows users to incorporate rules-based messages and other variable content into communications from any location. Anywhere for Marketing was developed to meet the increasing demand for distributed collaborative workflow, while reducing deployment costs and improving time to market.
IBM
IBM industry experts will participate in a number of discussions and customer presentations. At the Strategic Review of Business Transformation in the Graphic Arts forum, IBM, with Charlie Corr and Frank Romano, will provide insight on where the industry is headed over the next decade.
IBM will also take part in a discussion among service providers, technology providers, and customers, Print Output Assessments: Uncovering Latent Value In Customer Document Operations.
Kodak Polychrome Graphics
Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) will show a variety of integrated digital and business solutions, including its line of short-run color DirectPress DI presses and the new inkjet proofer, the Matchprint ProofPro 4P Printing System.
Objectif Lune
Objectif Lune will showcase their variable data and document design PlanetPress Suite of products within many of their partners’ booths. Besides updated packaging for the whole family of software, the new version of the PlanetPress Suite, Version 4.1. offers increased design capabilities, added output capacities, optimized archiving, and international compliance.
Paradigm/Western Graphtec
The new CS600, CS500, and IS200 series wide format scanners from Western Graphtec, Inc. will be available for viewing at their U.S. and Canadian distributor, Paradigm Imaging Group’s booth. The CS600 and CS500 24-bit, full-color scanners are for processing photographs, complex maps, and AEC/ CAD drawings, while the IS200 offers an 8-bit monochrome alternative for those who don’t need color functions. Each offers a standard or advanced
Pro model, which allows for future upgrades. The scanners all feature maximum scanning speeds of 9 ips (monochrome) and 3 ips (8-bit, 24-bit color) when scanning at 400dpi.
Sharp
Sharp is introducing four color products for everything from general office printing to color-critical mid-level production. The AR-C330 Color IMAGER MFP produces both color and B&W documents at 33 pages per minute (ppm) while delivering networked print, copy, and scan capabilities. Sharp is also introducing the AR-BC320 and AR-BC260 Color IMAGERs, designed to cost-effectively replace monochrome devices in workgroups.
Sharp’s new AR-M355N and AR-M455N Digital IMAGERs are sophisticated workgroup MFPs. Featuring Scan2 technology, which scans two-sided documents in a single pass, these new models also have a 300 MHz controller with a 40 GB hard drive to help manage document workflow. The new IMAGERs offer an enhanced level of security with the Sharp Data Security Kit.
Xeikon
A powerhouse to check out, the Xeikon 5000 digital color press is marketed as a solution for consistent, quality short print runs as well as for runs of several million copies. It can process volumes of up to 3 million A4 colour pages a month. The press has a standard fifth color station and is capable of printing on a range of weights from 40 to 350 gsm. Its new digital front end, the X-800, offers an enhanced toolbox for optimum workflow automation and integration resulting from the implementation of open standards. It can process jobs incorporating complex graphics with variable data from over one million records.
From this brief preview of the AIIM and ON DEMAND shows, it is clear that there will be many innovations and discussions worth seeing and being a part of. Take advantage of the invaluable resources and networking opportunities. We hope to see you there!
