56 ■ October 6, 2010 • GRAPH EXPO
Official Show Daily • Cygnus Graphics Media
HI-FLEX’s Print Buying Application is a “Game-Changer”
Company’s technology wins coveted InterTech Award for second consecutive year
H
IFLEX (Booth 463), a global technology leader of Web- to-print and MIS solutions for print, has won the Print-
ing Industries of America and Graphic Arts Technical Foundation InterTech Award for the second time. This year’s award was for the innovation of bun- dling HIFLEX Webshop as a Drupal Open Source Content Management Sys- tem (CMS) Plug-In and also for Web- shop’s JDF core, enabling print buyers to dynamically create and order hundreds of thousands of print products directly on-line and with zero administrative costs. This is a huge departure from the traditional ‘article-based’ Web-to-print ordering systems.
Drupal, the content management sys-
tem used in conjunction with the Web- shop Dynamic Ordering System, was chosen by HIFLEX for its framework
Mohawk Explores the Bicycle in Promotion Piece
based VSA Partners, explores the bicycle, a vehicle that has given us the ability to explore our imaginations. From photographs of icons like
M
Audrey Hepburn and Farrah Fawcett on bicycles, to portraits of progres- sive designs from Vanilla and John Bielenberg’s Nada Bikes, Mode of Transformation shows the global significance that the bike has on our culture, be it pastime or function. “Mode of Transformation show- cases the evolution of the bicycle as the perfect metaphor for the story of Mohawk Superfine. Like the bicy- cle, Superfine is custom crafted, constantly pushed to the limit, and made to last. Both have sustainable qualities that, more and more, are being brought to the surface. And undeniably, both have a passionate following within their domain,” says Jamie Koval, Partner, VSA Partners.
Endless transformations The bicycle has undergone end- less transformations throughout its history, and is experiencing a cultural resurgence as part of the
ode of Transforma- tion, the new Mohawk Superfine promotion designed by Chicago-
environmental movement. This new relevance translates beautifully to Mode of Transformation’s narratives that tell the story of the tradition and trend of the bicycle. Mode of Transformation is a per- fect bound book printed conventional four-color offset, with an extra black and a silver touchplate, by American Printing, Birmingham, AL. The cov- er has a registered sculptured emboss with multiple depths and rounded edges. All three shades of Mohawk Superfine—Ultrawhite, White, and Softwhite—are used in both the Smooth and Eggshell finishes. Print demonstrations show adjustments for dot gain and curves. Mode of Transformation appeals to
the adventurer and designer in every- one. As the book says, “No matter how old you are, no one can forget their first solo journey cruising the neighborhood atop a Schwinn.” Mohawak Fine Papers is in Booth
2939.
and core functionality. In addition, there are over 2000 Drupal modules that are readily available to HIFLEX customers directly from the Drupal website and that can be uploaded to the Webshop system for immediate use. Drupal is a free, open source content management system and is the choice of other leading compa- nies such as Yahoo, AOL, FedEx, IBM, NASA, Sun Micro Systems and Novell. There are over one million installations and over 10,000 developers worldwide using Drupal to manage their storefronts and websites. Dr. Mark Bohan, VP, Technology and Research for Printing Industries of America, comments “By virtue of the software’s connection to the Drupal Content Management System, HIFLEX Webshop users have carte blanche when configuring their Web-to-print sites. HIFLEX should be congratulated and recognized as a pioneer in the industry for thinking outside the box with their use of open source. The judges loved this innovation and they shared unanimous sentiments that it will have a significant impact on our industry.”
Easier on-line purchasing The panel of judges, represented by a mix of 15-20 industry executives who are responsible for making buying decisions regarding technology for their printing establishments, agreed that the Webshop- Drupal combination will make it much easier to do business online. And with the use of these tools, printers of all sizes, small to large, would benefit from easier and faster deployment. “Traditional or proprietary Web-to- print systems do not provide an open plat- form so that users can have the freedom to fully configure their own systems. This is because one, vendors view configuring their customer’s websites as a primary source of revenue and two, because of the
proprietary nature of these systems—they simply are not able to provide unrestric- tive access to the backend,” comments Gary E. Marron, HIFLEX Corp, NA, President and CEO. “The proprietary nature of these systems make it impracti- cal and unsafe to offer such unrestricted access—users could inadvertently dam- age the system software. Most systems do have the ability to change graphics and images but are limited regarding the restructuring of storefront elements, func- tionality and adding or changing prod- uct types and descriptions. The HIFLEX Webshop backend is one click away from the front-end and completely open and available to users with the superbly orga- nized Drupal Structure.” HIFLEX’s Webshop-Drupal bundle also allows its customers to leverage from the thousands of Drupal communi- ty programmers and users who have also used Drupal to create their own unique and custom on-line storefronts. Further- more, Much like Apple iPhone apps, thousands of Drupal apps are instantly available, such as the Google Analytics module, making configuring easy, simple and fast.
Facebook integration Another good example of a recent Drupal-Webshop tool is integration with Facebook and Twitter. By using simple Drupal apps, Facebook and Twitter users are now able to have immediate access to a printer’s Webshop site and gain auto- matic access to the Webshop Storefront without having to re-register and login as a new user. This ease of access expands the market of a printer’s Webshop store- front business by millions of potential new buyers, simply by having this Drupal plug-in available. Web-to-print providers can expect an explosive online revolution regarding demands such as these that will drive the need to adapt quickly.
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