-- A new Macintosh-based client application that can be used to access Artesia's TEAMS asset management system has been announced. Features include one-click checkout, drag-and-drop import and export of assets, AppleScript capability, version control, Quark XPress integration, customizable project framework and the "Window Wallet," which gathers a user's active projects and checked-out files into a floating window that serves as a palette for navigating files and projects.

-- Getty Images Inc. of Seattle and Artesia have announced the Getty Images Media Management Services, which will combine Artesia's TEAMS digital asset management system with Getty Images' expertise in the classification, storage, retrieval and delivery of visual content to help customers organize, manage and maximize the value of their digital assets, including photos, illustrations, fonts, video, audio and electronic files generated using Adobe Quark and Macromedia software and other media assets.

-- Artesia has announced that it will support the eXtensible Metadata Platform (XMP), which was recently developed by Adobe Systems Inc. of San Jose for use within the entire Artesia product line. This eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based technique for managing and exchanging detailed information about content is designed to expedite storage and distribution of content.

-- Artesia has announced a hybrid brand-asset management system that combines the ease in deployment of a web-based, hosted service with the security features and enterprise performance of a comprehensive digital asset management system. The brand-asset system will utilize the TeamToolz hosted service, recently acquired by Artesia, to offer process and campaign management capabilities.

Reed Business Information, a division of the multinational Reed Elsevier plc publishing group, will have Enterprise installed in two phases. The first phase features 80 Enterprise seats that include Ad Order entry and Ad Producer, which allows integration to third-party ad makeup applications, and Atex Online Advertising, which lets both contract advertisers and the general public create and submit their classified and display ads through a publication's web site.

The second phase includes about 210 additional seats of Enterprise Ad Order Entry, 15 of which will be running Ad Producers.

The Espion Visual Search Option is an add-on that allows users to perform visual searches within a Cumulus catalog. Espion uses proprietary image comparison algorithms that allow users to control how specific the search is and which visual attributes are significant in the search. Espion displays pairs of matched images instantly and details the likelihood of the match as well as the degree of difference between the original image and the match.

Canto has also released the Portable Document Format (PDF) AssetStore Option, which allows users to catalog a PDF file, with Cumulus creating a thumbnail of the PDF document and additional thumbnails for each page of the PDF file. A new PDF filter will also read the text in a PDF document and place that text into the Cumulus Notes field of the database. Users can then search the Notes field to find specific text.

Lastly, Canto has announced that its Cumulus 5 Media Asset Management System is now shipping for Macintosh OS X. While Cumulus clients have always run under the Mac OS, this is the first time that the Enterprise Version has been available for the Macintosh platform.

CreoScitex, which combined the pre-press assets of Scitex Corp. Ltd. of Israel with those of Creo, has been in operation since April 2000. CreoScitex products will remain in place, though they will be re-branded.

The company said that it would introduce a new logo along with its new name, Creo Inc., following shareholder approval.

The installations will be phased in over several years and will begin at Knight Ridder's North Carolina paper, the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER (241k), where preliminary work is already underway.

Enfocus' PitStop products, in addition to those marketed by Agfa and Fujifilm, will all incorporate the new PDF technologies that are in Instant PDF.

PitStop Professional is now at Version 5.0, while PitStop Server is at 2.0.

Enfocus is on the Web at http://www.enfocus.com/.

-- ProductionReadyServer is a customized version of Global Graphics' MaxWorkFlow and is intended to simplify creating and implementing cross-media publishing workflows at newspapers and other publishing and printing environments.

-- GlobalColor is a new product line for color device profiling and remote proofing. It adds color management capabilities for a range of products based on Global Graphics' Jaws raster image processor (RIP).

-- ScanXact II is fully International Color Consortium-compatible scanner software.

-- The Cirrus 2 computer-to-plate system incorporates a new metal platesetter and plate processor for B3 (13-inches-by-19-inches) plate sizes.

Prolatus MarkUp works with any existing hard-copy proof output and focuses on the correction information, capturing the exact marks made on the proof, creating a corresponding digital image file and sending it to the pre-press specialist or printer.

Proofs can be routed to several different people or departments, with MarkUp keeping track of what changes were made and by whom. Proofing marks are easier to read, since they can be entered and viewed on individual layers.

The company also announced enhancements to the Catalyst Technology suite of applications that are the underpinnings of MarkUp. New Catalyst features include the ability to send vector-based files as well as raster data over standard Internet connections for use in color correction, image manipulation, marking up proofs, sharing files and tracking jobs. Another new Catalyst feature is support for native Adobe Photoshop files.

The premium versions of the 528 and 530 models of the Spectrodensitometer product line will soon include a color-match feature that stores color recipe information. The models will also take advantage of X-Rite's proprietary ColorMail technology to share color data between desktop PCs and shop-floor measurement devices.

QuickCal, an easy-to-use automated densitometer, is designed to provide calibration and quality control of PostScript color copiers, color printers and color proofing devices.

Spectrofiler2 supports a color patch scan of 1/16-inch-by-3/16-inch, allowing for the color measurement of any size color bar.