The Guardian and Observer publisher will run the software on 18 new Samsung XL30 LED monitors at repro departments in London's Guardian Print Centre and Trafford Park in Manchester after installing it on 15 February, following trials of rival systems.

Guardian project manager Dave Kirwan told printweek.com that Remote Director could become "the Cromalin of soft proofing".

Kirwan added: "We're all about standards. Our presses definitely hit ISO 12647 already. Our proofers can just about hit it, but could be better."

He said the advantage of Remote Director was that "it can go across the whole business – printing, repro, editorial, advertising" all for an annual subscription charge of £12,990, including service and support.

The software "pays for itself straight away" by cutting £20,000 of GNM's £50,000 proofing materials budget, said Kirwan, who added that "in time, we could eliminate 90% of that".

Niall Coady, managing director of supplier Targetcolour, said: "Remote Director is the only system on the planet that can control colour accuracy over different sites."

He said the system was "bespoke to the Guardian's needs" as part of the push for ISO 12647-3, and added that the mercury-free XL30 monitors would help GNM's environmental credentials by using 18% less energy than the competitors.

GNM trialled the system against its Cyclone Colorbus RIP and HP 1055 plotters. Codey said: "By the time the Colorbus had spit out two to three pages, the entire 80pp run was already at the press side."