Newsfront

CIP4 reports, from a recent interoperability test event, that of 93 product pairings from 31 companies, 76 of the pairings were successful even without prior testing. At an earlier event in December 2003, where 16 companies tested 24 products, there were 66 successful pairings among the 80 pairs tested. CIP4 claims that it began "quietly testing their products" against the JDF specification in May 2003.

TRANSCONTINENTAL will invest $1 million in its Rimouski printing plant, primarily to purchase new equipment and to expand the building in Pointe-au-Pere, a few miles from Rimouski, where the Rivard Street plant will be relocated. Once operations have started in Pointe-au-Pere, the Rivard Street building will be sold. The Dumais Street operation will remain intact. Formerly equipped to print flyers and other products for the retail market, the plant will now specialize in newspaper printing. The expansion will be completed by June 2004.

Related Results

PITNEY BOWES moved to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Group 1 Software Inc. for US$23 per share, which will cost the company approximately US$321 million. Group 1 specializes in software for mailing efficiency, data quality and customer communications. "These capabilities have become even more important in light of the U.S. Postal Service's recent focus on intelligent mail and address quality," said Pitney Bowes, CEO Michael Critelli. "It will also expand our mail stream participation by adding 3,000 high- and mid-volume mailing customers worldwide."

JUPITERMEDIA CORPORATION acquired the assets of Comstock Images for US$20.85 million in cash, marking a busy month in the stock photography industry, which presents many challenges for printing companies dealing with job files. Comstock is based in New Jersey with operations in Toronto and Luxembourg. In other news, Getty Images announced that it will combine the Hulton Archive and Time Life Pictures to offer one of the world's most extensive online collections of archival imagery. Getty Images' collection now contains more than 60-million images.

RESEARCH IN MOTION, the makers of the BlackBerry wireless device, reported US$41.5 million in profit for the fourth quarter. This financial news beat analyst profit estimates of 50-cents per share, and the company said it now expects revenues in the first quarter to reach US$265 million in its coming first quarter. This is approximately a 10 per cent increase from its previous guidance. Last quarter, the Waterloo-based company increased the number of BlackBerry subscribers by 204,000 to 1,069,000.

MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW reports that researchers from Seoul National University in Korea found that using curved lenses doubles the viewing angle of three-dimensional imaging systems without sacrificing brightness. The technique could eventually be used for printing three-dimensional billboards, according to the researchers, and can also be applied to electronic paper where it is important to present an image free of gaps between image sections. The technology may appear in two to four years.