Global Graphics Software, the developer of the Harlequin RIP, has been awarded a 2021 Pinnacle InterTech Award from PRINTING United Alliance, for Direct, the software that drives data directly to inkjet printhead electronics giving unprecedented speed and image quality. It is the company’s third InterTech award in four years.
The Pinnacle InterTech Awards from PRINTING United Alliance honor the development of innovative technologies judged to be truly innovative and expected to have a significant impact on graphic communications and related industries.
The judging panel said they expect Direct to be widely adopted and to accelerate the use of inkjet for high volume personalized communications and packaging.
Justin Bailey, managing director of Global Graphics Software, says, “Printing full color, fully variable data on the new generation of faster, wider and high-resolution digital presses requires data to be sent to the printheads at blistering speeds. Many manufacturers are hitting what we call the data rate barrier. Direct removes that barrier and builds in the flexibility needed to future-proof print production because the capability of a press is not limited as data rates increase and the press does need to be reengineered to meet future requirements.
“We are delighted that manufacturers, among them Miyakoshi and FUJIFILM Integrated Inkjet Solutions, put their trust in us to overcome this challenge. We’re also extremely proud of our achievement: the fact that we’ve been awarded this honor shows once again that we are at the forefront of innovation and developing technology that is relevant in today’s market where the shift to the mass customization of products is accelerating.”
Direct is a new graphics pipeline that sends data directly to the printhead electronics instead of writing to disk and so reduces image processing times significantly, handles large volumes of data with ease, and accelerates the time to print.
Brian McInerney, senior program manager at FUJIFILM Integrated Inkjet Solutions comments, “We challenged Global Graphics Software to RIP variable data pages destined to be printed on our single-pass inkjet solutions, such as the FUJIFILM 42K Printbar System at speeds up to 1,000 feet per minute and at 1200 dpi. We are happy to share that Global Graphics not only achieved the required data rate using its Direct technology but has since increased its performance to meet our next level specifications. This is a direct benefit to our customers that look to Fujifilm for their single-pass printing solutions without having to create pre-RIPped ready to print files; rather with this solution variable data can be sent directly to our system where RIPping and page screening are done on the fly.”
“The judges recognized the significance of a technology that streamlines image and data processing for high-speed digital presses by bypassing hard-disks and going directly to the printheads, especially as data volumes increase dramatically and will continue to do so,” said Bill Pope, Vice President of Technical Services, PRINTING United Alliance.
Global Graphics Software was awarded an InterTech Award in 2018 for ScreenPro the fastest screening engine, and in 2019 for PrintFlat that rectifies artifacts in inkjet output. In 2020 the company was honored to be granted a Queen’s Award for Innovation for ScreenPro.
The Global Graphics Group of companies, which includes HYBRID Software, Xitron and Meteor Inkjet has been honored with five InterTech awards in the last five years.
