When was it launched? EFI’s Fiery System 10 was launched in August this year with the company calling it the "fastest, most robust" ever. The latest iteration has since been exhibited at shows such as Graph Expo in the US, integrated into EFI’s product portfolio and recognised with several industry awards.

Who is the system targeted at? The newest version of the Fiery digital front-end, which the company claims offers more accurate and consistent colour and improved variable data capabilities, is being pitched at digital print customers and corporate environments with multifunction printers driven by the Fiery system. According to Toby Weiss, general manager of the Fiery business unit and senior vice-president of EFI, the latest technology offers the most "integrated platform in the industry", with connectivity to automation solutions, production workflow systems and direct mobile printing.

What is its USP? According to EFI, the system is known for its "blazing speed, colour accuracy, image quality and intuitive interface". Fiery System 10 features a new job-based calibration tool that customises calibration to each specific job and the media used.

Fiery Calibrator also incorporates a tool named ‘Calibration Guard’, which provides calibration status, warnings, and alerts to encourage calibration to take place, says EFI.  New to this iteration is the Fiery Image Enhance Visual Editor (IEVE), which enables users to individually edit images, rather than the native design file, with controls for changing brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, colour balance, sharpness and adding red-eye correction.

What are its other main features? EFI Fiery System 10 has a number of improved variable data features such as support for PDF/VT-1. The new standard fits into existing PDF-based prepress operations and enables a single, common PDF print production workflow for all job types. It also features wi-fi to allow for wireless printing from Apple iOS devices.

How easy is it to use? Fiery IEVE, launched in EFI’s Fiery Command WorkStation v5.3, allows users to save settings as presets for further images. EFI says that the newest Command WorkStation software is "now even easier to use" with frequent tasks more accessible while required job information is also easily available.

Danny Morris, regional sales director for EFI Northern Europe, says with System 10 the company is focused on extending its ease-of-use with greatly simplified workflows for calibration and makeready, what EFI considers two top areas of use for all commercial printers.

What about training and support? Morris says that EFI offer extensive training to its OEM sales partners in addition to its end-user customers. It also provides ‘how-to’ guides and a range of videos to show makeready, colour management and document composition techniques. These are available on Youtube and EFI.com. The company has also recently added paid-for training videos through the Fiery Global University part of efi.com.

How many installations have there been? The first OEM implementation of Fiery System 10 is in Xerox’s EX Print Servers, which are used to power the manufacturer’s recently-announced Color 800/1000 Presses and the Xerox 700i and 770 Digital Color Presses.

SPECIFICATIONS
Features ‘Calibration Guard’ providing calibration status, warnings, and alerts Support for PDF/VT-1 wi-fi connectivity to allow for wireless printing from Apple iOS devices. Complex jobs simplified through the system’s Mixed Finishing Sets feature. Support for prints files that have embedded Set Page Device (SPD) commands.
Price On application
Contact EFI 01753 283688 www.efi.com

USER'S VERDICT
"Fiery is more productive than ever, delivering awesome processing power especially on our variable data jobs. A nice new feature is the Image Enhance Visual Editor. It saves us the time and hassle of going back to the source application and editing images. We are also seeing great results when utilising the Adobe PDF Print Engine" (5/5)  
Pete Watkins Director, Herts Display

ALTERNATIVES
Creo Color Server
Creo Color Server, developed by Kodak’s Print On-Demand Solutions Group, is a JDF-enabled digital front-end based on a client/server architecture. It is an OEM software tool used to power a large number of digital presses from a variety of manufacturers, including Canon’s imagePress, Konica Minolta bizhubs, Xerox’s 700 and iGens 3 and 4, and HP Indigo presses. It converts input files from a page description language, such as Adobe PostScript, to a ‘ready to print’ format, and controls the output device during the printing process. It is capable of handling multiple clients and processes simultaneously.
Main features Creo says ‘Fusion Imaging’ technology allows simultaneous ripping and printing, easy integration with graphic arts workflows, high image quality, colour management and VDP support
Price On application
Contact Creo +32 2352 2878 www.creo.com

Harlequin Server RIP
Harlequin from Global Graphics Software forms part of many major proofing, imaging and direct-to-print workflows.
Available through Global Graphics’ OEM partners, Version 9 of the JDF-enabled Harlequin RIP processes PDF, PostScript and XPS natively in one RIP engine.
Main features
High-quality, high-performance RIP
Optional trapping & colour management
Price On application
Contact Global Graphics 01954 283100 www.globalgraphics.com