DUSSELDORF, GERMANY: Adobe Systems has announced Adobe PDF Print Engine 2, the next-generation, full-featured printing software that enables end-to-end workflows for graphically rich publishing based on Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

Designed for offset and digital printing, Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 enables Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and print providers to fulfill the promise of variable data printing (VDP) and help their customers to develop personalized campaigns for different target audiences. Since its introduction in 2006, more than 2000 systems incorporating Adobe PDF Print Engine are in production from the industry's biggest names, including Agfa, FUJIFILM, GMG, Heidelberg, Kodak, Screen, and Xanté. Dalim Software, EFI, Océ Printing and Xerox also announced support for Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.

Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 addresses the complexity and limitations of variable data printing workflows that have hampered VDP adoption so far. With support for PDF/VT, the emerging PDF standard for variable data printing, the software offers print providers an easy on-ramp to add VDP to their existing workflows. Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 makes personalized publishing more practical and broadly accessible while enabling print service providers worldwide to realize significant performance gains. Customers such as the Printing Department at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia are finding that the Adobe PDF Print Engine renders jobs twice as fast as their previous systems.

"Personalized publishing is the best way for businesses to engage their customers with relevant information," said Dr. Naresh Gupta, senior vice president, Print and Publishing at Adobe. "Building on the success of Adobe PDF Print Engine, the next generation of the technology will help print providers cut through the media clutter and deliver the benefits of VDP by enabling complete, unified PDF-based workflows, from design to collaboration to final output."

Single, unified PDF workflow
Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 leverages the same core PDF technology across the end-to-end workflow – designing with Adobe Creative Suite, reviewing and proofing with Adobe Acrobat Professional and printing with Adobe PDF Print Engine -– to dramatically reduce complexities and streamline the next generation of print jobs.

Optimized for digital printing, Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 efficiently renders graphically rich content and offers an easy path for print providers to add personalization to existing workflows, using the familiar tools, methods and expertise employed in prepress today. With VDP content exchanged in the form of user-friendly PDF, collaboration between creative designers, business users, print and prepress professionals is greatly simplified.

Adobe PDF Print Engine 2 is built on the industry standard JDF (Job Definition Format), which enables printers to realize substantial cost savings through end-to-end workflow automation, beginning with an easy-to-use, online job submission. Optimized code takes full advantage of available hardware resources such as RAM and multiple-core CPUs while a highly scalable architecture enables parallel processing by next-generation Raster Image Processors (RIP) and Digital Front Ends (DFEs).