Eastman Kodak

You gotta love America. Only here could Bill Gates be watching almost idly as the Justice Department prepares to dismantle his empire just as changes in information technology were about to do it for him. Ironically, while Microsoft is about to be broken up into two or three pieces, just about every other industry seems to be moving toward larger and larger conglomerates in search of so-called synergies. That the payoffs are few and far between doesn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm—and certainly not that of the investment bankers and corporate lawyers that put these deals together. Of course, this has been going on for some

Dozens of strategic meetings, several industry-wide rumors and (give or take) $537 million later, Vancouver-based Creo buys the worldwide digital prepress business of Scitex. How will this change the computer-to-plate market? What does this mean for Scitex digital prepress devices? Creo Vice President David Brown is the answer man. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO There are times in the commercial printing industry, specifically in the area of digital prepress, when breaking news tends to be slow. Manufacturers are quiet; there is nothing notable to report...business as usual. Then, Creo buys Scitex. Not completely out of left field but, still, in its own right, a

DRUPA 1995 was the beginning of the thermal computer-to-plate frenzy. Leading the charge: Creo and Kodak. Five years later, new platesetting initiatives are poised for DRUPA 2000. What digital platesetters will be announced at DRUPA 2000? Dusseldorf, Germany, holds the answers. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO At DRUPA 1995, a tiny Creo Products—tiny compared with the CTP giants Linotype-Hell, Gerber and Scitex— touted the production and workflow merits of thermal CTP for commercial printing. Creo's message was all thermal. Kodak consumables were Creo's enabling technology, bridging Creo's thermal output engines with the digital plate production demands of the average commercial printer. Who didn't take

Blue laser diode platesetters (that actually emit energy in the violet spectrum) will be in vogue this year. Who will be the customer of choice for these technologically advanced units? What consumables (silver-based or negative-working conventional plates, for instance) will support a "true blue" 2000? Read on. . . BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Blame Sony. For that matter, blame Pioneer. (Or, depending on where you sit on the issue, thank them.) These two major Japanese suppliers are feeding the race to develop the perfect blue-laser-based, gallium-nitride disk player, both trailing the current leader, Nichia Chemical Industries. Why should you care? Blue

Flawless production of a five-million—that's 5,000,000—dpi poster earned Faust Printing the PIA's first-ever "They Said It Couldn't Be Done" award. But the Rancho Cucamonga, CA-based family business is used to performing miracles. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The story of Faust Printing reads like a great tragedy—and an even greater triumph—of both the limitless potential of the human spirit, as well as the seemingly ageless spirit of the time-honored craft of putting ink on paper. Faust Printing is first and foremost a family business, one that suffered great loss (in the tragic death of its founding father) yet, through determination, has risen above adversity to

Is a digital proofer on your shopping list? Which digital proofing devices will you buy this year? What will be the improved range of spot colors accurately produced by these devices? Who's talking stochastic? Find out—today. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO Happy new year. Need a new digital proofer? What an interesting time to shop for proofing expertise. (Sorry. No after-Christmas clearance on these items!) Expanding color gamuts, open front ends, new media selections, pigment-based inks, digital halftone and ink-jet devices, multi-setting proofers, spot color surprises—it seems every flavor of digital proofer is pushing to better mimic press conditions, deliver stable, accurate color and provide

CLIFTON, NJ—A $20 million expansion is under way at Sandy Alexander, based here. The core of the expansion is the installation of two new eight-color Heidelberg Speedmaster CD sheetfed presses with interdeck drying and a double coater capable of combining UV and aqueous coating, running at 15,000 iph. In addition, the company is installing a new off-line double coating/finishing unit, also manufactured by Heidelberg, and similarly rated at 15,000 iph. (Heidelberg plans to debut this coater at Drupa next May, however, Sandy Alexander will be up and running with it before the end of the year.) This new coater offers several competitive advantages, including: Ability

Expanded color gamuts, strategic digital halftone proofing launches, imposition proofers and multi-setting thermal devices highlighted the digital proofing component of GRAPH EXPO 99. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO What were the digital proofing flares shot out at GRAPH EXPO 99? One glaring signal: Digital halftone proofing is still riding a high. Equally hot for the contract proofmakers were new devices offering expanded color gamuts, two-sided imposition proofers, new multi-purpose thermal proofsetters and refined remote proofing promises—all of which captured the attention and scrutiny of show attendees, who are looking to purchase the next contract proofer and want to know . . . Who joined

By Erik Cagle When Francis Canzano Jr. wasn't looking for technology, it seems technology went looking for Canzano. It all started in the mid-1960s, when Canzano was walking the floor of a trade show in Chicago. He had been looking for a conventional camera and had visited a separation house for a demonstration. The camera was fine; nothing extraordinary. So it was back to the show. Ironically, it took a trip to Hell to land Canzano, president of Acme Printing/World Color New England, in technology heaven and ultimately a place in the 1999 Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame. "I'm roaming around

The team at Fontana/Affiliated had already incorporated waterless offset printing and moved to a new facility. The next logical step was waterless CTP. BY CHRISTOPHER CORNELL Waterless? The team at Cheverly, MD-based Fontana Lithograph/Affiliated Graphics knows a number of different meanings for the word "waterless." That word could be used to describe just one of the problems the printer had to overcome as it built its new facility here. Through a revitalization project with the state of Maryland in December 1997, Fontana/Affiliated took ownership of a condemned property, which was nothing more than a slab with a leaking roof and three walls, that had