Upplands Väsby, Sweden, May 21, 2008 – Eizo Europe AB (“EIZO”) today announced that two of Eizo Nanao Corporation’s (TSE: 6737) monitor proofing systems have passed the newly launched IDEAlliance1 (SWOP2, GRACoL3) Monitor Proofing Systems Certification Program. In total, 27 systems from five companies were certified, with EIZO offering the only systems from a monitor manufacturer.
Monitor proofing systems are becoming more widely adopted as they significantly reduce the time and expenses of hard copy proofing by allowing all parties (prepress house, agency, client, etc.) to view proofs on a calibrated monitor. IDEAlliance, a U.S.-based organization that develops standards to enhance efficiency in all facets of publishing, just announced an update to its widely-recognized SWOP certification program for monitor proofing systems. Whereas the previous SWOP program largely relied on visual evaluation, this new program is based on a more objective numeric evaluation; it requires a monitor to be within a specific tolerance from the 1,617 color patches of the internationally recognized ANSI IT8.7/4 standard4.
In EIZO’s certified soft proofing systems, the EIZO ColorEdge CG301W monitor (29.8" widescreen) or the ColorEdge CG241W monitor (24.1" widescreen) are used with Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional for viewing soft proofs. Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional is already in widespread use, so EIZO’s systems offer premedia companies and prepress houses considerable cost savings over conventional monitor proofing systems which require the purchase of the system vendor’s software proofing packages in addition to the monitor.
Both of EIZO’s systems are certified GRACoL Grade #1, the most stringent of three certification categories in the IDEAlliance program. GRACoL Grade #1 applies to coated sheetfed offset printing and has a color gamut that encompasses the other two categories: SWOP Grade #3 and SWOP Grade #5, which apply to web offset printing.
Among the other 25 monitor proofing systems certified by IDEAlliance, 16 use EIZO ColorEdge monitors, including the two aforementioned monitors as well as the ColorEdge CG221 (22.2" widescreen) and the ColorEdge CG211 (21.3" standard format). The prevalence of EIZO ColorEdge monitors in these systems further testifies to their suitability for soft proofing.
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1IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance) is a not-for-profit organization based in the U.S. that develops standards to enhance efficiency in all facets of publishing, digitally and in print. GRACoL and SWOP are specifications developed by IDEAlliance’s working groups and committees. See idealliance.org for more information.
2GRACoL (General Requirements for Applications in Commercial Offset Lithography) is a working committee within IDEAlliance whose mission is to improve communications and education in the graphic arts by developing best practices and specifications that reflect the influence and impact of new technologies Press Release in the workflow of commercial offset lithography. See www.gracol.org for more information.
3SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications) was initiated in 1975 as a response to the printing industry’s need for uniform specifications and tolerances to ensure the consistency and quality of material in publications. In 2005, SWOP merged with IDEAlliance and now operates as a working group within IDEAlliance. See www.swop.org for more information.
4ANSI IT8.7/4 is a standard established by the U.S.-based American National Standards Institute. It defines a data set of ink value combinations that may be used to characterize four-color process printing and is widely recognized around the world. See www.ansi.org for more information.
About EIZO
Eizo Europe AB is a European subsidiary of Eizo Nanao Corporation, a leading Japanese manufacturer of high-end visual display products with a wide range of LCD monitors. The image quality, long-term reliability, and innovative features of EIZO monitors make them the products of choice in many financial trading rooms, hospitals, back offices, and design studios throughout the world. EIZO is based in Japan and represented in over thirty countries by a network of exclusive distributors.
Eizo Europe AB markets and supports the Eizo product line throughout Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Russia, the Baltic States and other countries in the CIS. Eizo Europe AB distributes the products through a network of resellers and distribution partners. Please contact the authorized EIZO distributor in your country for more details.
For more information, please contact:
Eizo Europe AB
Box 604
194 26 Upplands Väsby
Stockholm
Anders Jönsson (Sales Manager ColorEdge) anders.jonsson@eizo.se
Phone: +46 8 594 105 00
Fax: +46 8 590 915 75
www.eizo.se or www.eizo.org
Or:
Björn Johannesson (Marketing Communications) bjorn.johannesson@eizo.se
Phone: +31 346 556 544
Fax: +31 346 555 851
Company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. EIZO and ColorEdge are registered trademarks of Eizo Nanao Corporation.