Heidelberg's Data Bridge from the Agency to the Prepress Company
02/24/2000
Jetbase - The new database solution
At the CeBIT 2000 exhibition, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidel-berg) will be presenting Jetbase, a complete database solution which for the first time can be run on Unix and Windows NT plat-forms. Jetbase will impress users with a range of functions which create a future-focused link between agencies, advertising departments and prepress companies. This database solution opens the way to a new era in digital communications for the graphic arts industry.
Prepress workflows start with the advertisers themselves
Since the advent of desktop publishing, more and more prepress documents are being created on Macs and PCs in the advertising departments of industrial companies and advertising agencies. Today only a small proportion of originals are actually produced by prepress companies or by the prepress departments of printshops; the rest are delivered from a variety of sources.
Nevertheless, the prepress service provider is still responsible for taking these delivered documents and using them to generate high-quality data for output onto film or plate or for direct imaging in the printing press. Obviously this has to be done on schedule and without errors - even though production times are becoming shorter and shorter, a whole range of corrections and updates are still left until the very last minute, and publications are becoming increasingly complex. The prepress service provider is also required to store the data so that it can be retrieved on request for repeat jobs and further processing for a wide variety of purposes.
He can only do this if suppliers from advertising departments and agencies, the printshop and other data users are closely integrated into his workflow. In other words, his customers' workstations need to be just as much a part of his prepress workflow as his own platesetter, for example.
The database as a link in the workflow
Heidelberg recognized at an early stage that, as fast digital communications channels, the Internet and Wide Area Networks (WAN) are both a challenge and an opportunity, and wasted no time in incorporating them into appropriate products and system solutions (LinoServer Database for the Unix platform, Deltabase for the Windows NT platform). These solutions have now been combined under the brand name "Jetbase" to form a workflow link between customers and prepress service providers. There are a number of new functions which are available on both platforms and which are clearly directed towards digital services.
Jetbase configurations can be adapted flexibly to suit customers' individual conditions and requirements. They manage production data in a job-based manner, offering fully automatic archiving and rearchiving functions. Thanks to direct Internet / WAN access, external data services can be performed automatically and reliably.
Customers, agencies or other parties involved in the production process can view the databases assigned to them at any time of the day or night to browse and search for data and download the data they need directly via Internet/WAN. They can, for example, download low resolution layout images for document creation purposes. If such documents are uploaded back to the prepress service provider, production jobs are set up automatically and the associated high-resolution images are retrieved from the archive and exchanged for the layout images in a fully automatic process.
Online services around the clock
When using Jetbase, there is no additional workload caused by having to process data orders, for example. Digital shopping baskets, which are put together by online searches and ordered by e-mail via Internet/WAN, are processed automatically and precisely in a process which includes archive retrieval and electronic dispatch. This offers immense advantages, since it eliminates claims for compensation arising from wrongly delivered data, and means that customer data does not necessarily have to be maintained by the prepress service provider. Customers who give their data to a Jetbase provider for safekeeping can stock their databases themselves via Internet/WAN, arrange their data under keywords and also update it.
"Demand is high", says Claus Gumz, Database Solutions product manager in Kiel. "More and more companies are recognizing that a solution like Jetbase not only offers them an immense potential to enhance internal productivity, but also injects life into their business. Since Jetbase allows services to be performed around the clock and online, customer relationships can be intensified and raised to a level which is far more effective and pleasant for both sides. And since a company can offer these services on a cross-border or even global basis, Jetbase is also an effective marketing instrument for winning new orders!"
For further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Thomas Fichtl
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 47 47
E-mail: thomas.fichtl@heidelberg.com
At the CeBIT 2000 exhibition, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidel-berg) will be presenting Jetbase, a complete database solution which for the first time can be run on Unix and Windows NT plat-forms. Jetbase will impress users with a range of functions which create a future-focused link between agencies, advertising departments and prepress companies. This database solution opens the way to a new era in digital communications for the graphic arts industry.
Prepress workflows start with the advertisers themselves
Since the advent of desktop publishing, more and more prepress documents are being created on Macs and PCs in the advertising departments of industrial companies and advertising agencies. Today only a small proportion of originals are actually produced by prepress companies or by the prepress departments of printshops; the rest are delivered from a variety of sources.
Nevertheless, the prepress service provider is still responsible for taking these delivered documents and using them to generate high-quality data for output onto film or plate or for direct imaging in the printing press. Obviously this has to be done on schedule and without errors - even though production times are becoming shorter and shorter, a whole range of corrections and updates are still left until the very last minute, and publications are becoming increasingly complex. The prepress service provider is also required to store the data so that it can be retrieved on request for repeat jobs and further processing for a wide variety of purposes.
He can only do this if suppliers from advertising departments and agencies, the printshop and other data users are closely integrated into his workflow. In other words, his customers' workstations need to be just as much a part of his prepress workflow as his own platesetter, for example.
The database as a link in the workflow
Heidelberg recognized at an early stage that, as fast digital communications channels, the Internet and Wide Area Networks (WAN) are both a challenge and an opportunity, and wasted no time in incorporating them into appropriate products and system solutions (LinoServer Database for the Unix platform, Deltabase for the Windows NT platform). These solutions have now been combined under the brand name "Jetbase" to form a workflow link between customers and prepress service providers. There are a number of new functions which are available on both platforms and which are clearly directed towards digital services.
Jetbase configurations can be adapted flexibly to suit customers' individual conditions and requirements. They manage production data in a job-based manner, offering fully automatic archiving and rearchiving functions. Thanks to direct Internet / WAN access, external data services can be performed automatically and reliably.
Customers, agencies or other parties involved in the production process can view the databases assigned to them at any time of the day or night to browse and search for data and download the data they need directly via Internet/WAN. They can, for example, download low resolution layout images for document creation purposes. If such documents are uploaded back to the prepress service provider, production jobs are set up automatically and the associated high-resolution images are retrieved from the archive and exchanged for the layout images in a fully automatic process.
Online services around the clock
When using Jetbase, there is no additional workload caused by having to process data orders, for example. Digital shopping baskets, which are put together by online searches and ordered by e-mail via Internet/WAN, are processed automatically and precisely in a process which includes archive retrieval and electronic dispatch. This offers immense advantages, since it eliminates claims for compensation arising from wrongly delivered data, and means that customer data does not necessarily have to be maintained by the prepress service provider. Customers who give their data to a Jetbase provider for safekeeping can stock their databases themselves via Internet/WAN, arrange their data under keywords and also update it.
"Demand is high", says Claus Gumz, Database Solutions product manager in Kiel. "More and more companies are recognizing that a solution like Jetbase not only offers them an immense potential to enhance internal productivity, but also injects life into their business. Since Jetbase allows services to be performed around the clock and online, customer relationships can be intensified and raised to a level which is far more effective and pleasant for both sides. And since a company can offer these services on a cross-border or even global basis, Jetbase is also an effective marketing instrument for winning new orders!"
For further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Thomas Fichtl
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 47 47
E-mail: thomas.fichtl@heidelberg.com
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