Open Process Integration Data Formats & Digital Workflow Issues

Anyone who has recently attended the industry's trade shows knows that, where digital technology is concerned, we as an industry have a lot of stuff. We have computers - some call these platforms. Computer speed today is often measured in things called MIPS - Million Instructions Per Second - which is a benchmark for how many instructions a computer can process in one second. Computers also have Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). We have Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), T-1 satellite links, Raster Image Processors (RIPs), Desktop Publishing (DTP) systems, Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) chips, Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) chips, color hardcopy (CHC) devices, Direct Digital Color Proofing (DDCP) devices, Charged Couple Device (CCD) scanners, PhotoMultiplier Tube (PMT) scanners, Computer to Plate (CTP) devices, Computer to Cylinder (CTC) engravers, and Digital Presses. This is certainly a far cry from where we were twenty or so years ago when, if one were to attend a Print, or a DRUPA, or an NAA (nee., ANPA) show, then one might perhaps see three laser-exposure computer-to-plate (CTP) devices - yes, they existed back then - and only a handful of primarily text-based, vector data, black-and-white, workstations. Yes, things have changed. Yes we as an industry, certainly have a lot of stuff.