Focoltone Color Solutions

5 March 2004, Singapore - During the recent MTV Asia Awards, Focoltone Color Solutions helped Hewlett-Packard with an enhanced color proofing solution installed on the HP Color LaserJet 9500 to turn around the color proofing process of the MTV Asia Awards first commemorative book.

A major sponsor of the awards, HP printed 300 full-color, offset-quality 36-page books in less than 12 hours. These limited edition books have been created for MTV Asia for the journalists attending the 2004 MTV Asia Awards.

Central to the color proofing process was the Focoltone Intelligent Color Calibration System (ICCS) 2.0 developed by KiKUZE Solutions Pte Ltd.

Said KiKUZE Solutions CEO, Mr. Winson Lan, "Focoltone ICCS is truly exciting for the global print industry. People can now get closer than ever before to accurate CMYK printing from a digital color printer with a quick, reliable, and easy-to-use color calibration solution. I can certainly see a lot of potential in this remarkable technology".

Focoltone ICCS enabled HP to enhance the color calibration of the HP Color LaserJet 9500 to accurate CMYK offset color standards in minutes, a yardstick Focoltone refers to as being "Color OK!". HP was the first in the world to use this color calibration system on a commercial level with the HP Color LaserJet 9500, a workhorse printer which is ideal for proofing as it offers unprecedented image resolution quality with HP ImageREt 4800 regardless of the size of the print run. No matter the number of copies printed, the infrequent and fast closed-loop smart calibrations ensure superior print system stability and support that saves time, toner and paper that would have been spent on reprinting.

With the Focoltone ICCS solution, the HP Color LaserJet 9500 printed book proofs allowed the designers to ensure the color of the final books would accurately match the colors intended regardless of environmental factors.

Additionally, HP chose to use Focoltone ICCS because it provided a complete verification system. The software program handled the calibration of the printer using advanced Artificial Intelligence, and the subsequently printed test sheet was checked against the Focoltone Calibration Chart overlay.

For Cheong Chee Keong, Business Unit Manager, Shared Printing and Imaging, HP Imaging & Printing Group, Asia Pacific/Japan, that was the decisive factor, "The unique Focoltone ICCS solution helped us to expand into a market in a very cost-effective way that was previously not as affordable. In addition to providing an affordable in-house, short-run on demand color printing solution, the HP Color LaserJet 9500 is now capable of producing accurate CMYK color reproduction. With visual confirmation from the Focoltone Calibration Chart, we were confident in our LaserJet's ability to act as an instant color proofing machine for the MTV Asia Awards Commemorative Book".

With a HP color laser printer consistent with industry color standards, the Saatchi & Saatchi design team commissioned to produce the book could verify their final artwork colors on-site instead of waiting the usual couple of days for color proofs from a proofing house.

Mr. Bruce Watt, Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi, gave his nod of approval to the system, saying, "It's really impressive how an in-house laser printer can be 'bumped up' using Focoltone ICCS to become, in essence, a reliable color proofing machine suitable for final artwork verification".

Focoltone ICCS will be launched globally during the world's leading trade show for the print industry, drupa 2004, which happens at Düsseldorf, Germany from 6 - 19 May 2004.

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.