Harlequin Releases Next Generation of ScriptWorks RIP Management System Featuring Scalable and Modular Architecture.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999--

New Version Available in Wider Choice of Customizable Configurations

For Greater Integration Flexibility by Harlequin OEM Partners

Harlequin announced today that Harlequin ScriptWorks 5.0, the next generation of its industry-leading RIP Management System, has been shipped to its 50+ OEM partners for implementation in their future products and workflow solutions. This new version of ScriptWorks fully supports the latest PostScript LanguageLevel 3 (LL3) specification and also includes new Harlequin-developed tools for improved color handling and production process control demanded by the market. In addition, due to its redesigned, scalable architecture, Harlequin OEMs can license traditional configurations of the RIP as well as customizable "GUI-less" configurations that can be distributed throughout the workflow. With a wider choice of RIP configurations, Harlequin OEMs can develop more robust customized solutions to address emerging market requirements. With its greater configuration flexibility and enhanced feature set, version 5.0 also marks the first version of ScriptWorks enabled for use in Harlequin's EP2000 Adaptive Process Control Environment.

"At Print '97, we predicted that 'Reconfigurable Image Processors' would be the future of RIP technology. That future is here today with ScriptWorks 5.0," said Christie O'Malley, product marketing manager for Harlequin's digital printing and publishing products. "With version 5.0, our OEM partners can reconfigure or 'customize' the RIP as needed to develop powerful new solutions that address a wider range of file formats, output device requirements, and workflow environments. No longer are they limited to a turnkey solution that may not fully address their customers' ever-changing workflow requirements," she added.

Harlequin expects several of its OEM partners to release products and systems incorporating ScriptWorks 5.0 in early 1999.

PostScript LanguageLevel 3 Implementation

ScriptWorks 5.0 can process files produced by applications that are LL3 compatible and contain the new extensions and changes to the PostScript language as specified in the "LanguageLevel 3 Specification" update to the PostScript Language Reference Manual. Some of the new LL3 features in ScriptWorks 5.0 include:

-- DeviceN - Allows an arbitrary number of colors to be correctly processed and printed from virtually any color system, including CMYK and spot color systems as well as HiFi and other 6-color systems.

-- Smooth Shading - Reduces printing time and improves output quality by rendering gradient fills at the resolution of the target device using a series of designated pattern libraries.

-- Masked Images - Enables printing of composite images clipped to a raster mask.

Many of the other new operators introduced in the LL3 specification provide functionality that already existed in ScriptWorks RIPs (e.g. trapping parameters, idiom recognition, type 16 halftones). With ScriptWorks 5.0, the LL3 variations of those capabilities have been added to the existing ScriptWorks functionality.

Beyond PostScript LanguageLevel 3

ScriptWorks 5.0 goes beyond simply adding the PostScript LanguageLevel 3 operators by providing tools and new configuration options that can enhance the productivity, quality, and flexibility of Harlequin OEM-developed solutions. These additional enhancements include:

-- Harlequin N-Color support - Includes output plugins for color proofers that use more than four inks and special N-Color HDS screening sets. Harlequin N-Color is fully integrated with screening, calibration, rendering, raster formats and page buffers, trapping, and separations;

-- FlatOut - Page Buffer (PGB) re-direction and stitching, allowing for automation of post-RIP imposition and ganging workflows and facilitating late replacement of individual pages in a flat (without re-RIPing the entire flat) to accommodate last minute changes;

-- "GUI-less" ScriptWorks API-based configuration (also called SOAR or "ScriptWorks Open Architecture RIP") - Using an Application Programmers Interface (API) instead of an integral GUI (Graphical User Interface), Harlequin OEM partners can configure ScriptWorks on a completely custom basis to access any specific feature or set of features desired. By separating the GUI from the core RIP, these highly modular and efficient "reconfigurable" RIPs can be distributed throughout the workflow and controlled from anywhere on a network through a standard browser interface;

-- Raster Only configuration - Version of full ScriptWorks or ScriptWorks API that accepts only ScriptWorks Page Buffer or TIFF 6 files. This configuration is ideal for color proofing applications not requiring full PostScript or PDF processing (also available in ScriptWorks 4.5);

-- Optional plugin for TIFF/IT-P1 output - Provides output in TIFF/IT-P1 format from any input file format supported by ScriptWorks (the TIFF/IT output plugin will be released later this month);

-- Built-in memory management capability - Dynamically allocates memory to the RIP and other functions, resulting in more efficient usage of system resources and greater RIP performance;

-- Optional plugin for CIP3 support - Generates PPF format for use in setting ink keys on press (also available for ScriptWorks 4.5);

-- Optional plugin for large format ink jet printers - Supports wide range of devices from Hewlett-Packard, Encad, and Epson, among others (to be released in early Q1 1999 for both ScriptWorks 5.0 and ScriptWorks 4.5);

-- Support for X-Rite DTP41 AutoScan spectrophotometers - adds new X-Rite spectrophotometer to list of third party densitometers, colorimeters and spectrophotometers supported in ScriptWorks calibration tools and color process control options (also available in ScriptWorks 4.5).

Other "Classic" ScriptWorks Features

ScriptWorks 5.0 and earlier versions of the software support a long list of features that are only just beginning to appear in competitive RIPs. These include:

-- Symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) support, available since 1992;

-- "Extra Grays" (over 4000 gray levels), available since 1992;

-- Support for a wide range of input file formats (e.g., PS, EPS, PDF, DCS2, TIFF6, TIFF/IT, etc.) that fully comply with industry standards, available starting in 1992;

-- Full range of optional screening options with Harlequin Screening Library, including a patented "FM" or stochastic method, available since 1994;

-- Optional "In-RIP" color process control with Harlequin Color Production Solutions, available since 1995;

-- Full ICC 3 support, including "device-link" profiles, available since 1996;

-- Optional TIFF/IT-P1 input processing, available since 1996;

-- Optional Display list access with Harlequin Display List Technology, available since 1996;

-- Optional "In-RIP" trapping with EasyTrap, available since 1996;

-- Native processing of TrueType fonts and storage in compressed formats, available since 1997;

-- Support for internationalized user interface, available since 1997.

Available for a Wide Range of Platforms

ScriptWorks 5.0 was released to Harlequin's OEM partners in early December and is available on a wide range of industry standard hardware platforms and operating systems, including Power Macintosh, all Intel-based Pentium PCs (supporting Windows 95/98 and Windows NT); Compaq Alpha workstations and servers (supporting Windows NT), and several UNIX systems. Symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) systems and all popular network environments are supported.

Editors' Notes:

About ScriptWorks:

Harlequin ScriptWorks, the industry's leading RIP Management System, is a powerful and complete print production management system that is faster and more robust than other PostScript language interpreters. Based on open systems and using a variety of layered options, the software-based RIP boosts productivity in digital printing and publishing environments and controls a diverse set of processes with "late-binding" flexibility. ScriptWorks is licensed exclusively on an OEM basis, and Harlequin OEM partners market their ScriptWorks-based products under many different brand names as integral components of imagesetting, direct-to-plate/press, proofing and printing systems.

About Harlequin:

With a rapidly growing worldwide base of OEM partners, Harlequin is recognized internationally as a leading supplier of open systems-based software for digital printing and publishing applications. Since it was founded in 1986, the company has been dedicated to the development and delivery of highly creative and effective solutions to customers' problems. Harlequin has grown into a global software company with world-class expertise in high quality digital printing and publishing, intelligence analysis, information management, software development and delivery tools, and image sequence processing. The company has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. For additional information, please visit their Website at: http://www.harlequin.com/.

Harlequin and ScriptWorks are registered trademarks and EasyTrap, EP2000, FlatOut, Harlequin Color Production Solutions, and Harlequin Screening Library are trademarks of Harlequin Group plc. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. All other brand or product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.