The Fiery EX-P 5 DFE print server launch, taking place this month, follows the February acquisition of Xerox's Free Flow Print Server (FFPS) front-end business by EFI, for a cost that will eventually reach $22m (£16.8m).
The product is the first commercially available DFE on the September-launched Fiery FS300 Pro platform and will be configured with the Xerox iGen cutsheet with optional White Dry Ink capability, which became available last month.
Available for retrofitting for a small upgrade fee along with running with all new White Dry Ink iGens, EFI partner alliance director Terry Garvey said that it would be rolled out to other platforms, potentially Xerox Versants, “when the time is appropriate”.
Garvey said: “Putting white ink onto an iGen 5 has been in development for some time and it was a good opportunity to put this latest platform onto it as well. Some of the samples, the likes of wedding albums, cards and all those things that have never been possible on a white before, they are opening up some good opportunities.
“This is a new faster platform and with the combination of the FS300 software we are delivering a 40% speed improvement over the previous version.
“One of the other key areas for us is the ability to not only handle postscript files but also use Adobe Print Engine, having transparencies in some of those hickeys that you get in customer files, that really helps with that work in particular.”
The software also uses an ink estimator, allowing customers to know the cost of a job’s ink before they print. Based on the 2016-launched Fiery NX Premium hardware platform, it features HyperRIP enhancements, allowing customers to double processing speed on certain jobs, according to EFI, along with utilising the redesigned Fiery Command WorkStation 6 interface.
Garvey added that things had “gone very well” so far with the acquisition and described the launch as “the first of those fruits” with more soon to follow.
