Product Reviews

When was it launched?

EFI's Fiery System 10 was launched in August this year with the company calling it the "fastest, most robust" ever. The latest iteration has since been exhibited at shows such as Graph Expo in the US, integrated into EFI's product portfolio and recognised with several industry awards.

The newest version of the Fiery digital front-end, which the company claims offers more accurate and consistent colour and improved variable data capabilities, is being pitched at digital print customers and corporate environments with multifunction printers driven by the Fiery system. According to Toby Weiss, general manager of the Fiery business unit and senior vice-president of EFI, the latest technology offers the most "integrated platform in the industry", with connectivity to automation solutions, production workflow systems and direct mobile printing.

According to EFI, the system is known for its "blazing speed, colour accuracy, image quality and intuitive interface". Fiery System 10 features a new job-based calibration tool that customises calibration to each specific job and the media used.

Fiery Calibrator also incorporates a tool named 'Calibration Guard', which provides calibration status, warnings, and alerts to encourage calibration to take place, says EFI. New to this iteration is the Fiery Image Enhance Visual Editor (IEVE), which enables users to individually edit images, rather than the native design file, with controls for changing brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, colour balance, sharpness and adding red-eye correction.

EFI Fiery System 10 has a number of improved variable data features such as support for PDF/VT-1. The new standard fits into existing PDF-based prepress operations and enables a single, common PDF print production workflow for all job types. It also features wi-fi to allow for wireless printing from Apple iOS devices.

Fiery IEVE, launched in EFI's Fiery Command WorkStation v5.3, allows users to save settings as presets for further images. EFI says that the newest Command WorkStation software is "now even easier to use" with frequent tasks more accessible while required job information is also easily available.

Morris says that EFI offer extensive training to its OEM sales partners in addition to its end-user customers. It also provides 'how-to' guides and a range of videos to show makeready, colour management and document composition techniques. These are available on Youtube and EFI.com. The company has also recently added paid-for training videos through the Fiery Global University part of efi.com.

The first OEM implementation of Fiery System 10 is in Xerox's EX Print Servers, which are used to power the manufacturer's recently-announced Color 800/1000 Presses and the Xerox 700i and 770 Digital Color Presses.

'Calibration Guard' providing calibration status, warnings, and alerts
Support for PDF/VT-1

wi-fi connectivity to allow for wireless printing from Apple iOS devices. Complex jobs simplified through the system's Mixed Finishing Sets feature. Support for prints files that have embedded Set Page Device (SPD) commands.