Gradual Software Announces Partnership with Markzware
	Gradual’s SWITCH automates Markzware FlightCheck Professional & FlightCheck Online
Gradual Software, specialists in software solutions for automating the publishing process, announces a partnership with Markzware, developer of the award-winning FlightCheck series of pre-flight software. The partnership allows Markzware's pre-flight tools to seamlessly integrate with Gradual’s SWITCH product line: PowerSWITCH accepts jobs that have been submitted through FlightCheck Online, and automatically processes those jobs based on the contents of FlightCheck Online’s job ticket and pre-flight results. FullSWITCH (and PowerSWITCH) feature a built-in configurator for FlightCheck Professional, which allows to setup and perform automated pre-flight on virtually any desktop or server at minimal expense. Coinciding with this announcement, Gradual Software today releases Update 4 of FullSWITCH and PowerSWITCH 06, offering these features in addition to other enhancements and fixes. As a result of this partnership, users will gain the ultimate level of efficiency in professional publishing, combining accurate pre-flighting of various file formats with robust automation capabilities. SWITCH offers the capability to easily design and edit document flows. The new configurator allows adding FlightCheck Professional to the flow via a simple drag-and-drop process. FlightCheck Professional is a powerful quality control application for pre-flighting PDF and source files. It can inspect over 45 layout application formats and many image formats. Patrick Marchese, CEO of Markzware, says: “Gradual Software has a great market potential for their advanced publishing automation tools. This is in part due to the 100% focus on automation and their quick development turn-around in adding new features to their SWITCH software line, such as the integration with Markzware FlightCheck Online and Professional.” Peter Camps, CEO of Gradual Software, comments on the new partnership: “Markzware has a leading position in pre-flight tools for all file formats. The combination of FlightCheck and SWITCH technologies provides users with an integrated solution, automating even more tasks and creating a single streamlined flow for checking, submitting and processing jobs.” PowerSWITCH and FlightCheck Online FlightCheck Online checks native application and PDF files against customized preflight rules sets defined by the receiving side (printers, publishers, etc.). The checking is performed on the sender’s desktop before the job is transmitted. When preflight is completed, FlightCheck Online automatically collects all relevant files, including fonts and images, and the collected job is compressed and uploaded to the receiver's FTP server. At the receiver’s end, PowerSWITCH automatically detects and decompresses incoming jobs. It also picks up the job ticket information entered by the sender using FlightCheck Online and the pre-flight results generated by FlightCheck Online. PowerSWITCH then sorts and processes jobs based on this “metadata”, allowing users to establish intelligent job flows. For example, if requested by the sender, a job may be automatically taken through correction or conversion processes (using third-party applications controlled by PowerSWITCH), and placed in the appropriate folder for manual review. FullSWITCH and FlightCheck Professional FullSWITCH (and PowerSWITCH) feature a built-in configurator for FlightCheck Professional. This allows setting up FlightCheck Professional easily from within SWITCH, and it turns the FlightCheck desktop tool into a fully automated application. David Dilling, Director of Markzware’s European office, concludes: “The synergy between FlightCheck and Gradual's SWITCH products is obvious. Automating FlightCheck Professional’s pre-flight capabilities offers substantial benefits. Things get even more exciting when, by linking FlightCheck Online to SWITCH on the server side, a printer, publisher or advertising studio can offer a true, end-to-end, web-to-print solution. All of the important checking is done before FlightCheck Online transfers the approved job via FTP to Gradual's PowerSWITCH – the sky is the limit!” Bundle promotion Gradual Software and Markzware have created a bundle promotion that will be available until the end of 2006 through selected distribution channels in Europe: FullSWITCH and FlightCheck Pro are offered at a special bundle price Registered users of FlightCheck Professional are offered a free upgrade to the latest version of this application when they purchase FullSWITCH. About Gradual Software Gradual Software was established in November 2004 to develop and deliver software for full automation across the numerous stages of professional publishing. Gradual’s automation solutions are designed to benefit all participants in the publishing workflow, including content originators (authors and designers), content processors (editors, designers and layout artists), brand owners (publishers and marketing departments) and service providers (printers). As the next-generation successor to its original CaslonFlow product, Gradual now offers the SWITCH family of workflow automation software. Gradual Software is privately held by its management team, and is located in Ghent, Belgium. For more information, please visit www.gradual.com

Press Contacts:

Ivor Dixon Positive Focus 12c Shepperton Business Park Govett Avenue Shepperton Middlesex TW17 8BA Tel +44 (0) 8456 120 246 Fax +44 (0) 8456 120 248

Distributors and integrators of workflow solutions for graphics, print and communication.
Imposition Tools : JDF Integration : Proofing : PDF : Personalisation

PUBLISHED 2-10-06