The system comprises 307 workstations for reporting, editing, pagination, production tracking and web output. The system also accommodates multiple users who will access the system remotely via the Prestige web client. Prestige replaces an Atex J-11 system at THE RECORD and a system from Agile Enterprise at the HERALD NEWS. Installation is scheduled to be completed early next year.

Atex said that it had also recently installed a Prestige system at the VALLEY NEWS (18k) of Lebanon, N.H., and THE RECORDER (14k) of Greenfield, Mass. Both papers are owned by Newspapers of New England of Concord, N.H. The combined system places 36 seats in Lebanon and 22 seats in Greenfield.

Enfocus is developing a plug-in for InDesign that will allow users to save an InDesign document as a Certified PDF file, which is guaranteed to conform to a set of requirements for a particular print or publishing process as defined by the printer or publisher, eliminating the risk of errors or quality issues.

The new plug-in will use Enfocus' pre-flight, correction and certification technology in conjunction with InDesign's built-in PDF export capabilities. The plug-in will be integrated in Enfocus' existing product line.

New features in Debabelizer include multiple batch processing, color compression and optimization and RealVideo conversion. The company said Debabelizer Pro 5's estimated street price is $469.

Buyers of ScenicSoft Color Central Version 4.0 are entitled to a 10 percent discount on purchases of Group Logic's ExtremeZ-IP.

Color Central is an Open Pre-press Interface (OPI) and print management system, while ExtremeZ-IP is a file- and print-server. The companies said that ExtremeZ-IP complements Color Central by speeding the submission of large, high-resolution image files from Macintosh workstations to a Windows server running Color Central as well as speeding the Macintosh retrieval of images from the Windows-based Color Central.

The discount pricing, available to both new Color Central users and those upgrading from an earlier version, requires the purchase of ExtremeZ-IP before Dec. 31. Customers who purchased Color Central prior to the announcement of the discount are also eligible. Customers can receive their ExtremeZ-IP discount by providing Group Logic a copy of the Color Central 4.0 invoice or packing slip.

Maxim is a series of modules that store all client and insertion order information in a single database, allowing sales, management, accounting and production departments to monitor the entire advertising sales and insertion process.

Maxim has been installed at European and U.S. offices of Elsevier Science, Findlay Publications, IPC Magazines Ltd. and the Builder Group in the United Kingdom.

The XTension is designed to provide control over the transfer of database information in and out of XPress. The company has also released Personalizer-X, an application based on TCP-IP XT.

-- The Cintiq 15X, a pressure-sensitive interactive pen display system, which combines a full 24-bit color liquid crystal display (LCD) with graphics tablet technology that allows the use of a cordless, batteryless pressure-sensitive pen. With the Cintiq 15X, users can draw and edit directly on the LCD screen using the electronic pen and see what they are doing precisely at pen point. Suggested applications include photo image editing, painting, CAD, 2D/3D animation and other applications. The device is priced at $1899.99, which is 52 percent less expensive than its predecessor device, the PL500, priced at $3999.

-- The Intous2 graphics table system now incorporates a number of new technology and hardware improvements. New features include a cordless, pressure-sensitive grip pen, a new 2D mouse for four-inch-by-five-inch and six-inch-by-eight-inch active area tablets, a new 4D mouse with fingerwheel for larger tablets, a new digital over-sampling technology and a new menu strip with web navigation shortcuts.

Direct!'s new features include moving from proprietary code to supporting the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) application program interface (API) Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), enhanced large file delivery, support for the company's remote digital proofing and printing system, and improved support for an outsourced, pay-per-use rendering service.

This new version further optimizes the use of Adobe InDesign and Adobe InCopy. Smart Connection now offers automated basket-based workflow, which "understands" the nature of the user's folder structure and acts accordingly.

With Smart Connections' new user interface, users no longer have to deal directly with the file system, but can simply work with concepts like publication, issue, section and basket. Another new feature is the automatic publication workflow -- any user with a web browser can view the progress of the publication by viewing thumbnails of all the pages.

Further, Woodwing has announced full support for Adobe InDesign 2.0, to be released early next year. The company's Smart Styles v2.0 will add high-level object styling to InDesign. The new version supports all new InDesign Version 2 features including transparency, drop shadows, feathering and tables.

The company also announced Smart Tables for InDesign 2.0, a plug-in that enhances the productivity of InDesign 2.0's new table functionality. The underlying Smart Styles technology can recognize sequences within formatting and apply it across rows, columns, cells, paragraphs and characters.

In addition, Smart Tables also provides basic math functionality within InDesign tables, including calculating the sum, product or average of all cells in a column. Formatting options can be used to specify the format of numbers or to create value-dependent text styling, for example, to style negative numbers in the color red.