QUICKCUT ADSTREAM RELEASES QUICKPRINT 5 WORKFLOW SOFTWARE

- QuickPrint 5 debuts as a powerful and efficient application for creating and validating files for print production, with the ability to conduct nearly 300 validation checks and optimise most file problems automatically. - Integrated with Adobe Distiller, Adobe preview and colour engines to provide 'on-the-fly' PDF creation and comprehensive, automatic colour conversion.

IPEX; Birmingham, UK; 4 April, 2006 - Quickcut adstream today announced the availability of QuickPrint 5, the latest version of the company's powerful and efficient workflow software for preparing and delivering advertising job files "to spec" for predictable print production.

The release of QuickPrint 5 follows an extensive development program spanning almost two years that has included comprehensive beta testing by advertisers, publishers and printers around the globe. Quickcut adstream's intensive development effort has produced a robust yet highly flexible solution that complies with existing print industry standards, including those of the Ghent PDF Workgroup(GWG), International Standards Organisation (ISO) and Pass4Press and paves the way for the development of future standards.

"We've been beta testing QuickPrint 5 in our retail division and it has just been great. With all the features of the previous version and a lot more, QuickPrint 5 is like the previous QuickPrint version on steroids," said Matt Davis, studio director, DDB Australia. "The tool allows a studio manager to do a lot more than just traditional newspaper and magazine layout. Now it has colour management and provides all the checks in one package. As a supplier, we can do all of this in house now and we've reduced the time it takes from a number of days to a 24-hour turnaround. We're very pleased."

Available on both Windows and Macintosh platforms, QuickPrint 5 works with Adobe InDesign Creative Suite 2 and QuarkXPress, applying advanced technologies and methodologies available to the graphic communications industry in a single desktop application. QuickPrint 5 improves the production cycle by taking the guesswork out of file preparation and making prepress production highly predictable and efficient.

QuickPrint 5 enables advertisers to quickly create, colour manage, validate and deliver properly prepared files according to the individual specifications of publishing and print destinations worldwide.

Publishers and printers can use QuickPrint 5 to check and validate incoming PDF files created in any software application against their exact specifications by simple drag-and-drop, or as part of an automated Quickcut adstream workflow -- no matter the source they came from or how they were created.

"Preparing jobs for advertising and print production can be demanding and time consuming, and typically requires multiple programs to build, proof, preflight and deliver finished files," says Craig Schuetrumpf, Director Technology & Strategic Planning, Quickcut adstream. "Our new QuickPrint 5 software dramatically steps up the production pace by placing specifications-driven layout, integrated colour management, PDF creation and comprehensive preflighting and validation 'to spec', all into a single, highly optimized desktop application.

"With QuickPrint 5 at the heart of our specifications-driven approach to workflow, the production professionals who send and receive prepress files for publication and printing have all the tools they need to streamline their digital workflow and make the whole process the most effective and efficient it can be."

QuickPrint 5 Innovations QuickPrint 5 includes a number of innovations and refinements that make it substantially faster, easier and better at helping its users streamline their digital production workflow. These include the following:

- Unique File Validation: - QuickPrint 5 file validation goes beyond standard PDF preflighting, by performing nearly 300 validation checks against the specifications contained in Quickcut adstream's global specifications database before a file can be sent. Of these, nearly 200 preflight checks are made of PDF parameters, with another 100 checks performed against mechanical and other destination specifications. QuickPrint 5 organises file faults and warnings intuitively in a text panel, and highlights them graphically in an adjacent preview pane with various tools for easy visual reference. Even novice users can learn quickly how to spot and solve highly technical problems.

- Automatic Optimisation - A new timesaving feature is the ability to optimise PDF files automatically, according to user-defined requirements or to comply with industry standards such as ISO, Pass4Press or GWG. With a click of the "Optimise" button, QuickPrint 5 can perform some 50 different operations from fixing common PDF file problems to making ICC color conversions, limiting ink weights, and making a file PDF/X compliant.

- Built in Adobe Distiller - Users of QuickPrint 5 can create PDFs on the fly without having to even purchase a separate PDF creation program.

- Comprehensive colour management - QuickPrint 5 integrates the same Adobe Color Engine (ACE) used in Photoshop, with advanced Quickcut adstream software to set up colour management settings and apply colour conversions to images automatically. The ACE also enables powerful comparative soft proofing that helps set realistic print expectations.

- Workflow Flexibility - Users can work in RGB, minimize float, prevent JPEG compression, control transparency effects, enforce the use of PDF/X and set up their own source profiles and colour management settings. QuickPrint 5 makes the necessary conversions to destination specifications automatically.

- Destination Grouping - QuickPrint 5 can logically group together "compatible" destinations to minimise the number of layout combinations and files sent, while ensuring that each file meets the requirements of the sender and of each destination in the group.

End-to-End Workflow Solutions QuickPrint 5 also works with other Quickcut adstream software solutions, to provide a complete end-to end workflow solution from a single supplier. PageStore software automates the delivery of artwork to single or multiple magazine, newspaper or print destinations with a single connection whilst automatically managing publisher/printer locations, copy instructions, encryption and security. Q-Automate is an advanced workflow management tool enabling users to automate manual processes and optimize the production process, thereby saving time, minimizing errors, and bringing significant cost savings. Quickcut ICC software combines powerful color management capabilities with industry-standard ICC profiling in a Quickcut workflow to eliminate color guesswork from print production.

Part of Global Media Exchange strategy QuickPrint 5 is part of Quickcut adstream's pioneering 'Global Media Exchange' (GME) strategy announced at IPEX, and which converges workflow, management and distribution across all forms of media. QuickPrint 5 builds on the global success that Quickcut adstream has already achieved in the publishing industry, where leading brand owners, agencies and designers use Quickcut adstream's unique approach of using destination specifications to guide and manage the production of advertising materials.