It signed the deal at Drupa and the strip will be used first in the next version of its proofing product EFI Colorproof XF.

"We are delighted to be able to offer our customers the Fogra control strip as an integrated feature of EFI products," said Thorstern Breiding, vice president and general manager of EFI's proofing technology.

The inclusion of the Fogra strip is one of several new features in the next-generation product.

EFI "Verified Proof" has the same functionality as Remoteproof. The new tool uses a GretagMacbeth EyeOne to read the control strip and check the patches are within an acceptable tolerance of the intended proofing specification.

The software will also move to a client server architecture that will support Mac OS X users for the first time. It will be able to drive multiple printers from the same rip and be able to export PDF or Tiff files as well as hard-copy proofs.

Features that were previously bundled into different Best products depending on the intended application, such as screened file support and spot colours, will now be available as options on the one core platform.

Story by Barney Cox