By: Erik Vlietinck
Wed, September 26, 2007 - 11:01:00

Alwan Color Expertise, world leader in standardization and implementation of colour management, announces a partnership with Gradual Software to integrate Alwan’s preflighting, standardization and CMYK Optimizer colour technology within the SWITCH product line from Gradual.  The agreement offers users a combined technical solution that delivers advanced automation and file optimization.

Alwan Color Expertise is well-known for its efficient colour standardization tools that can be easily integrated into existing working processes.  The integration of CMYK Optimizer in the Gradual SWITCH environment facilitates higher levels of integration in various user workflows.  The added metadata capabilities enable users to build a fully automated workflow from start to finish – beginning at the front end (order intake) all the way to the back end (prepress) of automatic graphic processing.

Elie Khoury, President Alwan Color Expertise comments: “The integration of CMYK Optimizer with SWITCH from Gradual is the next logical step to let users easily add automization of colour management from within existing workflows. Engaging in these kinds of partnerships allows Alwan to focus on further improving our core technology: the conversion and optimization of colour.  SWITCH adds automation capabilities to file handling and metadata, which is an added benefit to our users.”

Gradual Software has developed a specific configurator whereby Alwan CMYK Optimizer is easy installed and managed from within SWITCH.  This integration allows users to open and use only one single application and thus, benefit from a single view of all processing jobs taking place.  User feedback about the combined packaging has been extremely positive. Ralph ‘t Hart, Prepress Director at Thieme Media Center Rotterdam, explains how the solutions have generated significant ink savings: “The combination of SWITCH and CMYK Optimizer has enabled us to establish a more predictable and reliable workflow.  Processing all printing files via CMYK Optimizer has helped us to decrease ink coverage, thus shortening the dry process and resulting in more jobs being processed.  Gradual SWITCH allows us to automate our workflow whereby CMYK Optimizer streamlines our printing process, delivering cost-efficiency and print predictability.”

In a related partnership activity, Alwan Color Expertise has joined up with Gradual Software’s Crossroad concept: a large network of software vendors offering automation products for publishing workflows.  Crossroads is aimed at providing users with solid information about solutions that combine products from a number of cooperative vendors, and with the user community at large. Gradual is ensuring that Crossroads will have a significant, concrete presence everywhere —via a web site, a user forum, and participation at selected trade shows and industry events, beginning with IfraExpo Vienna 2007. During IfraExpo, Alwan will be presenting - as a Crossroads partner - the new CMYK Optimizer Version 3 on booth A 765.

Crossroads targets the complete publishing workflow: it delivers solutions for job delivery, PDF creation and preflight, colour correction, proofing, image manipulation, and more. In most cases, Crossroads offers more than one solution for a problem, allowing the customer the freedom to select the solution most suitable to their environment.