PretonSaver the first software in the world to receive an eco-label for green IT

Preton Ltd, represented in SA by Optimum Print Technology (OPT, www.optsa.co.za), announced today with pride that it has been awarded a global green label for meeting strict rules promoting environment conservation. The label was awarded to PretonSaver by the “Hong Kong Green Label Scheme” a part of The Global Ecolabeling Network (GEN).

The Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) is a non-profit association of third-party, environmental performance recognition, certification and labelling organisations founded in 1994 to improve, promote, and develop the "ecolabeling" of products and services.

The network sets out the requirements; software will be required to meet in order to be licensed for the green label. The requirements include environmental criteria as well as product characteristics. Testing and other means, to be used to verify conformance with the criteria and product characteristics, are also pre-defined and need to be met.

The aim of the environmental criteria for computer software, that PretonSaver had to meet, is to:

* Maximise energy-efficiency and reduce the consumption of natural resources.
* Reduce the use of environmentally harmful substances.
* Promote improved durability and recyclability.
* Minimise waste through systematic management approaches.

“We put in a lot of effort to maintain an environmentally conscious product and to continuously improve its added value and potential. Each tree we are able to save puts a big smile on our faces,” says Ori Eizenberg, Preton's CEO.

Composed of two revolutionary techniques (Pixel Optimizer and Elements Identifier) PretonSaver products identify wasteful pixels and delete them, the space left filled by excess toner or ink from adjacent pixels. The different elements on the page (text, pictures and graphics) are attributed a different savings level as to keep each of their required quality.

This sophisticated combination of techniques enables the print of a high quality mixed element document with maximum savings applied per element and not per page as a whole. Management of printing rules allows for even more ways to monitor and prevent excess and unnecessary printing using quotas, regulations predefined across a network and advanced printer settings.

PretonSaver is successfully sold to medium and large organisations around the world. Its customer base includes well-established clients such as banks, government offices and international companies. PretonSaver is used by hundreds of thousands of users every day, reducing costs of printing, saving money and the environment.

GHG emissions caused by manufacturing a single mono toner cartridge have been calculated to be approximately 4.8kg of CO2. Furthermore, during the complete life cycle of a ton of office paper, the equivalent of 6.3 tons of CO2 will be emitted into the air. The Evergreen PretonSaver software helps reduce all that damage and cut down on the printing industry's carbon footprint.

“We are proud to be a part of a joint global effort to save the planet, while cutting down on high printing costs. We will continue to do our very best to come up with new and improved products as we have always done,” said Eizenberg.