EFI ups quality and integration with new Fiery servers

EFI has announced two new EFI Fiery print servers for Xerox 560 and 570 digital colour printers, to help users improve quality and integration.

The Fiery EX and EXi print servers deliver three times faster processing speed than the previous model, higher-resolution printing and integration with systems such as cost-accounting tools and Xerox FreeFlow workflow suite products.

Central to the new servers is Fiery FS100 Pro, which the company claimed was the "only digital graphic arts workflow system to print PDFs perfectly".

The Fiery EX and EXi supports print resolutions of 1,200dpi, while spot-color emulation, automated image enhancement and optional software such as the Fiery Graphic Arts Package boost colour management capability for brochures, posters, presentations and photos.

EFI sales director for Europe Terry Garvey said: "All-round performance and integration makes this technology stand out; standard software such as impositioning comes with ad-ons including Fiery Job Master for applications such as training manuals where you need tabs inserted."

Built-in tools such as Fiery FreeForm variable-data formatting and advanced variable-data print stream processing is also designed to allow printers to offer new, value-added services to their customers.

EFI vice president for Fiery marketing John Henze said: "Print professionals need to expand their offerings and improve turnaround time, all without sacrificing quality."

He said the Fiery EX and EXi print servers enabled Xerox users to create end-to-end production workflows by integrating with EFI’s MIS software, e-commerce and scheduling tools. Integrating production workflow allowed customers to optimize print loads and track expenses and profits.

EFI would not reveal cost details but said commercial availability would be in early September.