March 30, 2009 – Trumbull, CT – Océ, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, announces the new Océ PRISMAsync® controller family to harmonize color and monochrome cutsheet workflow for in-house and digital printshops.

Increasingly printshops are demanding a single, integrated way of harmonizing their multi-engine production sites. Printshops want greater ease of use to reduce training and production costs, increase productivity and boost profits. Océ PRISMAsync controllers meet this need by harmonizing and simplifying printshop workflows for both black and white and color printing. As a result, Océ customers can reduce errors and operating costs while increasing overall printshop productivity and profit.

"The new Océ PRISMAsync controller family is the link between ease of use and performance in a unified production workflow. The Océ philosophy behind this cutsheet production workflow is based on a clear split between prepress and print operation tasks, combined with a uniform way of managing all printers with Océ ease of use across the entire workflow," said Eric de Goeijen, Vice President of Marketing, Océ North America.

"Océ customers already benefit from the processing performance and usability of Océ PRISMAsync controllers for Océ VarioPrint® 6000 and Océ VarioPrint 4000 monochrome cutsheet printers," de Goeijen added. "The introduction of the new Océ PRISMAsync color controller extends this renowned performance and ease of use to the Océ CS655 and the Océ CS665 Pro cutsheet full color systems. With the new Océ PRISMANsync controller, Océ addresses the challenges of printshops to simplify high quality color production for all operators and align the color and black and white workflow for production cutsheet devices delivering smooth operations and high productivity."

Harmonized Operation Across Printing Workflows
Océ PRISMAsync unified job management embraces both color and monochrome systems with one control interface and an intuitive operating approach for all Océ PRISMAsync-driven systems. The uniform usage concept creates fewer training demands and related expense, and with a shorter learning curve, productivity quickly increases across all systems. Both monochrome and color engines have a standardized printer driver, and the uniform user interface simplifies operation regardless of the print engine an operator is using. Furthermore, all machines have the same media catalog functionality. These features help lower training costs and give managers more flexibility in staff planning. They can reassign operators during busy periods or free up capacity to offer extra services.

For the Océ CS655 and CS665 Pro production color systems, the Océ PRISMAsync controller is an extension to the current controller portfolio including EFI® Fiery and Creo® servers. With a lower cost of entry than other alternatives, the Océ PRISMAsync color controller can help any operator in in-house and digital printshops to optimize their color production without requiring advanced skill sets or extensive training.

High Quality Color Made Easy
Key operators or Océ specialists make advanced color settings centrally and store them in preconfigured templates. Users can then produce color applications without specialized color training, reconfiguring jobs, or creating media profiles. Users sending or preparing jobs just select the correct pre-defined settings for the specific customer or document type to produce perfect color jobs every time.

Advanced Media Handling Avoids Printing Mistakes
The Océ PRISMAsync controller offers the most advanced media handling available for Océ CS655 and Océ CS665 Pro color engines. With Océ PRISMAsync controllers, users can define many types of media via the integrated media catalog. Operators can specify paper weight and thickness, type, color, name, number of sheets in pre-collated sets like tabs, and more. A media catalog can be defined by engine or imported from one Océ PRISMAsync controller to another to align media definitions across engines or the entire Océ PRISMAsync-driven fleet. Customers save time, while increasing productivity and accuracy. By preventing printing on the wrong media, precise media handling and clear communication about job requirements result in fewer mistakes and reduced waste and turnaround time.

Task-based Workflow Increases Productivity
Structured working methods enhance staff efficiency, while reducing process costs due to fewer errors. With a clear split between prepress and print production, operators can concentrate on either job preparation or print production rather than having to switch between the two. Océ PRISMAsync controllers help operators get maximum performance from all machines, while prepress departments work either with the uniform Océ Printer Family Driver or optional Océ PRISMAprepare® software to prepare and submit jobs. The delineation of functions between prepress and print production enables staff to focus on their core competency, delivering higher levels of productivity with reduced errors.

Easy Preparation of Complex Documents
The Océ PRISMAsync controller series integrates with optional Océ PRISMAprepare™ software for easy preparation of even complex documents. Users define layout, media and finishing requirements for individual pages, sections or an entire document with just a few mouse clicks. Océ PRISMAprepare software allows users to allocate machines more efficiently when printing jobs with both color and black and white pages. Océ PRISMAprepare software works with the same media catalog concept as Océ PRISMAsync controllers for clear media definition across the whole workflow. Color pages can be automatically detected and routed to a color printer. Later, these pages are automatically merged with the rest of the document in the black and white printer. As a result, print providers with tight deadlines do not have to waste machine time and money printing mixed jobs solely with a color machine.

Flexible, Dynamic Océ PRISMA Portfolio
Océ continues to expand the Océ PRISMA® portfolio with new functionality to meet customer requirements. The Océ PRISMAsync controller and Océ PRISMAprepare software are integral parts of the Océ PRISMA for Printshops solution set. With Océ PRISMAsync capabilities now available to drive both color and monochrome workflow, Océ demonstrates its expertise in optimizing workflow for every type of environment.

The Océ PRISMAsync color controller is available immediately in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. Availability in the US and other countries will begin in May 2009.