Xerox and Adobe expand publishing standard to include digital printing

Xerox Corporation and Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced a collaboration that will help commercial printers cash in on short-run printing and move more print jobs from offset to digital printing equipment. The two companies intend to work together to expand the digital print capabilities of the Job Definition Format (JDF), an emerging standard in the traditional offset production market. JDF is key to automating print workflow and enabling cost-effective production of shorter run lengths.

"The objective of building on the JDF standard is to create a consistent framework for all printing - from production printers in graphic arts shops to Internet printers," said Frank D. Steenburgh, senior vice president and worldwide general manager, Graphic Arts Industry Business, Global Solutions Group, Xerox Corporation. "It is vital to the future of the industry to have a common language that incorporates digital printing, the Internet and e-commerce."

As active members of CIP/4, an international industry standards organization that administers JDF, Adobe and Xerox have used existing standards to expand the potential reach of JDF. Using and extending the attributes of Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) will help to unify printing - from office printing devices to high-volume printers - making job automation easier and saving customers time and money. Also, the continuing use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) encoding within JDF further improves the exchange of information and promotes the efficient integration of digital printing into traditional publishing.

"Utilizing JDF to encompass digital printing applications provides publishers and graphic arts businesses greater flexibility, automation and job management for the entire printing and publishing lifecycle," said George Cacioppo, vice president of Printing Technologies, Adobe Systems Incorporated. "Tying JDF to the Internet, production workflow and a wide range of digital printing platforms will clearly bring increased levels of productivity to commercial printing markets."