Apago Releases New Software for Preparing Digital Print Ads; Promotes Open XML Format for Exchange of Ad Specifications.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2004

Workflow efficiency software provider Apago, Inc. today announced that it is making available a new XML data format enabling publishers and advertisers to exchange the dimensional specifications required for print advertising, and that it has released a powerful yet inexpensive interactive software tool, called Box Editor(TM), that uses this XML format to simplify preparing PDF/X files and verifying that the ads they contain meet publisher's requirements.

As part of today's announcement here at the PrintMedia Conference and Expo, Apago reported that New York publishers Time, Inc. and CMP Media are the first to support the XML format and will soon post ad specifications for their publications on their websites in this format. The company also said it is confident other publishers and organizations will soon announce they support the format as a standard way to exchange advertising specifications.

Erik Cullins, Associate Director of Digital Development, Time, Inc., remarked, "We have made great progress toward our goal of receiving 100% PDF inbound advertising files. One big challenge we still face is that virtually every PDF/X-1a file we receive includes page dimensions that are almost always incorrect and requires manual cropping to define what the trim and bleed dimensions should be. By having true page geometry defined in a PDF file, we will be able to take further advantage of what PDF/X-1a has to offer."

"New and sophisticated workflow tools that enable a file creator (or receiver) to properly specify where they intend the page to trim will help remove a time consuming and potentially error prone process later in the production cycle," Cullins explained.

Elizabeth Wimmer, Premedia Director for CMP Media said, "CMP has always been proactive in providing educational tools and in recommending software to help our advertisers prepare better PDF/X files. CMP is making ad specifications for all our titles optionally available in the Apago open XML format to promote the reliable exchange of ad size information, and we are adding Box Editor to our list of standard internal production procedures as a PDF/X verification tool. We hope our advertisers will import CMP ad specifications using the new XML format and adopt Apago Box Editor to prepare ads because both will help them to provide better, more accurate PDF/X ad files."

Box Editor includes unique capabilities that act as a control panel for digital ads. Publishers can see PDF/X-specific information including Trapping status and OutputIntent values. The "Vue/X" mode automatically configures Acrobat to view PDF/X files correctly. With one mouse click, Publishers can delete all of the content outside the trim or bleed area removing unwanted registration marks and "slugs." The Fonts and Colors tabs can be used to quickly identify all the fonts and colors that were used in the ad.

Apago Box Editor 1.0 is compatible with Acrobat 5.0 and later and runs on Mac OS 9 and OS X, and Windows platforms. The software costs $29. Apago also has bundled Box Editor software in the latest version of its $249 PDF preflight software, PDF/X Checkup(TM) 3.0. Both products are available immediately at www.apagostore.com.

About Apago

Founded in 1991, Apago (http://www.apago.com) is a privately held corporation that develops and markets workflow efficiency software primarily for the graphic communications industry. The company is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, USA, just north of Atlanta.