Focoltone Color Solutions

Focoltone ICCS 2.0 enables accurate, consistent color output from different digital color printers

5 March 2004, Singapore - At drupa 2004 in Düsseldorf, Germany, KiKUZE Solutions Pte Ltd will be officially launching the Focoltone Intelligent Color Calibration System (ICCS) 2.0, thus establishing an international Color OK! color quality standard for digital print machines.

With Focoltone ICCS (patent pending), digital color printers, regardless of make, model and location can now print accurate CMYK colors consistent with offset process colors. The implications of such a technology mean that clients viewing Focoltone ICCS-calibrated color prints in one location can be assured of an almost identical print in another territory!

Focoltone ICCS sets digital color printing standards with the Color OK! (trademark pending) culture and trademark - a globally recognized endorsement of quality color output. The Color OK! badge, attached only to digital printers using Focoltone ICCS, assures users that printers bearing the emblem produce consistently accurate CMYK color.

Focoltone ICCS utilizes a software application that runs on advanced Artificial Intelligence to calibrate digital color printer output. The software works together with the Focoltone Calibration Chart, which serves as a visual verification for printer's color output. Focoltone ICCS is compliant to International Color Consortium (ICC) standards and acts as an "ICC profile verification".

The Focoltone ICCS program functions as an Adobe Photoshop plug-in. It first analyzes a scan of both a printed color Test Sheet and the Focoltone Calibration Chart overlay. Being an offset print of a CMYK color spectrum, the Calibration Chart provides a benchmark color level for the ICCS program to analyze.

With the scan, the program employs its advanced artificial intelligence technology to determine the printer's color deviation from pure CMYK standards. It then automatically calibrates the printer's color output.

Printing out a second Test Sheet after calibration, a user can use the Calibration Chart as a verification tool by comparing his printer's Test Sheet against it to check the much improved results after calibration.

Focoltone ICCS 2.0 is the only solution in the market to include a color verification device through its Calibration Chart; color verification is a critical standardizing component in color printing practice that is currently lacking in other instruments.

One obvious usage of this quick and effective system would be in the design and advertising sector. In-house digital printers could be made Color OK! to ensure mock-ups become more accurate representations of the final offset printed copy. An in-house Color OK! printer now becomes an 'instant' proofing machine for final artwork approval.

This was precisely the case at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore. On 14 February 2004, HP produced 300 personalized MTV Asia Awards commemorative books overnight for distribution the next morning. With an HP Color LaserJet 9500 calibrated using Focoltone ICCS, the Saatchi & Saatchi design team commissioned to produce the book could verify their final artwork colors on-site immediately, instead of waiting for the usual couple of days for color proofs.

These positive testimonials are welcome news to KiKUZE Solutions CEO, Mr. Winson Lan. On his brainchild, he says, "The years we have dedicated to developing Focoltone ICCS have certainly paid off. It's truly rewarding to see how applicable Focoltone ICCS and Color OK! have proven to be in the design and printing sectors.

"Putting together a simple, easy-to-use, and yet thoroughly effective color calibration system is a highly complicated undertaking, I am proud to say we have managed to do just that with Focoltone ICCS.

"With the reputation Color OK! and Focoltone ICCS have established, I am certain our global launch will receive a very positive response at drupa 2004."

Currently, Singapore-based KiKUZE Solutions is in negotiations with key Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of digital color printers for licensing and bundling deals with the Focoltone ICCS 2.0.

As Focoltone ICCS and the Color OK! endorsement become even more widely adopted, the adoption of the Color OK! standard is set to become a distinguishing factor in digital printer performance assessment.

Focoltone ICCS is now available in English and retails for USD 900. Localized versions for the Japanese, French, and German markets will be available shortly after.