Fremont, Calif.—Xerox Corp. and Electronics For Imaging (EFI) have partnered to bring to market a next generation digital front end (DFE) to drive Xerox digital production presses. The agreement includes the sale of Xerox’s FreeFlow Print Server (FFPS) DFE business to EFI. Under the terms of the deal, EFI will continue to produce and support FFPS so current customers do not experience interruptions in sales or service.
Xerox’s expertise and unique functionality from FFPS will be integrated with EFI’s best-of-breed Fiery product, giving customers a market-leading offering. Customers will benefit from EFI sales and technical field resources working side-by-side with their Xerox sales reps to offer a best-in-class solution.
The next generation DFE will be integrated with EFI’s market-leading Productivity Suites, which include management information systems such as PACE, PrintSmith Vision, Monarch and Radius ERP. Additionally, the DFE will integrate with Xerox FreeFlow Core and XMPie workflows as well as industry-leading third-party prepress solutions such as Agfa Apogee, Heidelberg Prinect and Kodak Prinergy. The Fiery DFE, which is the industry’s only JDF certified DFE, will also offer a modern API to allow customers to easily develop integration to any customized applications.
“This next step in our strategic alliance will give customers the industry’s highest performing DFE with unparalleled imaging and color management,” said Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI. “EFI integration among the DFE, workflow software and management information systems products deliver the higher levels of automation and productivity that are key to print businesses taking full advantage of the opportunities with digital printing.”