Metrix, a software system devised by Australian firm LithoTechnics, will be launched for the UK market at Drupa next month.

Alan Dixon, technical director at Shepperton-based Positive Focus, said that the firm was already in talks with "leading MIS providers" over sales of the product.

He added that Positive Focus would also be targeting single users. Clients had not yet been approached, however, because the product was not yet "shippable".

But he said: "Anybody who's running an Agfa Apogee, Prinergy or Fuji Rampage workflow are our targets, because they generate impositions day-to-day."

Metrix calculates optimal layouts for printing up to ten different products on a single press sheet. Dixon said that this could lead to significant cost savings.

"You don't need to print 20,000 sheets, but 18,000 because you've squeezed two or three more copies onto a sheet," he said.

Two versions of the system will be on sale. The 3,495 standard edition, aimed at estimators, CSRs and production planners, calculates layouts. The 5,495 production edition, aimed at pre-press departments, also allows the creation of Preps templates and exports CIP3 and JDF data.

Contact: www.positivefocus.co.uk