More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

Get Xerox resources under control - using Emtex

The problem…

One of the hardest tasks to accomplish is to get a complete handle on Xerox resources used, customer by customer and/or job by job.  As most resources are printer resident, it is necessary to know which printers can accept which (customers’) jobs, and which resources are the most current.  As customers update their own forms etc. and distribute same, printer resources must be constantly updated to the latest version to ensure accurate printing is achieved.

The ideal solution from Emtex…

Ideally, all resources would be held in a single central location, and could be distributed to any printer immediately prior to printing, eliminating any question as to the printer’s level of “up-to-dateness”.

Emtex can automatically build a complete structure of customer/job resources, accommodating duplicate names and “special” build resources, and dynamically load the most recent version to any target device, at print time.

Easy implementation…

Simply take a single COPY TAPE from the target Xerox, and input it through Emtex, then begin processing any jobs through Emtex which would normally flow to that Xerox.  Emtex will identify and move the actual resources used for each job into your predetermined central directory structure.  The Emtex LOGFILE can be used to build a complete database of ALL resources by job, by customer.  Naturally this all occurs in real-time at printer rated speeds.

Once the COPY TAPE has been input to Emtex, any job valid for that Xerox can then be sent to any alternate output device, capable of handling IPDS, Postscript, PDF, TIF, XML, PCL etc. with complete fidelity.

What better and easier way exists to both tame the Xerox resource headache and potentially move your output to a completely new platform?

Contact David Kirk or Peter Wright at Atac today, to discuss this further.

Do you know an easier / better way?

If so, send us an e-mail with your solution by clicking here – we welcome feedback & publish suggestions that may help others.

Emtex Release 8.3 available now

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

In order to support market trends, VIP 2000NT is continually improving.  Major market areas addressed by this release include:

• PCL Input

• PDF Input

• Automated Document Factory (ADF) Integration

• AFP/IPDS BCOCA support

• IPDS pass-through

• ESCON input support

• Improved colour support (including support for AFP, FS11 - JPEG)

• Improved documentation

• Install Shield supported Remote GUI and Client/Server installation

• Simulator client - This is a new unlicensed client that enables jobs to be sent to a simulator client to verify that all resources are available.  It is designed to simulate all possible Output Client types.

• Colour support improvements.  Colour is a major growth area in the market.  Release 8.3 offers the following enhancements to VIP 2000NT colour support:

  • AFP Input - Support for Function Set 11 (FS11).   This includes full colour support for Text, Rules (lines), JPEG’s and TIFF’s.

  • IPDS Output

  • AFP colour input to monochrome output (B&W greyscale)

  • LCDS highlight colour to monochrome output (B&W greyscale)

  • LCDS highlight colour to Xerox Docuprint IPS highlight colour output

  • PostScript colour to IPDS colour

  • PostScript Output

  • AFP colour input to colour output

  • Compression of data to improve file transfer speed

• Automated Reprint Manager (ARM)/Automated Document Factory (ADF) integration.  Through the introduction of Virtual Document Enhance (VDE) functionality, VIP 2000NT now has the ability to create inserter and integrity control, create integrity files and interpret integrity system reprint files.  For the 8.3 release, integration with the following third-party ADF vendors is supported:

  • Pitney Bowes - Creation of MRDF files.  (VIP 2000NT release 8.1.0 already offers a connection to Pitney Bowes Direct Connect to enable interpretation and automated reprints from the reprint files.)

  • Kern - VIP 2000NT 8.3 can create inserter and integrity control, create integrity files, and interpret integrity system reprint files for Bell & Howell or Kern inserters and the Kern ADF integrity solution.

  • Gandlake - Ability to integrate with the Gandlake Integrity Manager (GIM) as part of an ADF solution.

Note: These solutions require use of VDE functionality.  Scripts are written by Emtex Professional Services at present and “run-time” licenses issued to customers.

New modules for Barr Enterprise Print Server 3.2

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

BARR/PRINT CHANNEL for IPDS

BARR/PRINT CHANNEL for IPDS is a brand new product from Barr Systems that provides an easy way to switch from channel-attached IPDS printers to network-attached IPDS printers without changing anything at the host.  It connects to the mainframe via ESCON® or Bus & Tag, emulating channel-attached IPDS printers. This improved connectivity enables the host’s Print Services Facility (PSF) to communicate directly to the remote IPDS printer via an IP socket, even if the host doesn’t support IP directly.

With BARR/PRINT CHANNEL for IPDS, organizations can expand their mainframe printing options to include Xerox®, IBM® and OCE® IPDS network printers, in addition to existing channel printers; all without the time and expense of changing the way the mainframe works.

Among other benefits, this solution allows customers to replace more expensive channel extension equipment by channel attaching a PC with BARR/PRINT CHANNEL for IPDS directly into the mainframe.  BARR/PRINT390 for IPDS over IP then serves as a companion product at the remote site, receiving the data over TCP/IP and directing print files to channel-attached IPDS printers.

BARR/PRINT to EPS

BARR/PRINT to EPS sends Xerox® LCDS and Metacode to Xerox Enterprise Printing Systems (EPS) via TCP/IP.

This simple connection allows easy upgrade from Xerox LPS to the new Docuprint® 180 Enterprise Printing System (EPS) or the new DocuSP® controller.  The Barr Enterprise Print Server provides the connection to the mainframe or other sources to access Xerox print files.  Once the Barr Enterprise Print Server receives the Xerox LCDS or Metacode data, it can send the data to multiple Xerox printing systems through the Barr IP port.

And of course the BARR 3.2 release itself is now available…

The latest release from Barr, available now, adds new functionality while supporting NT, Windows 2000 and now Windows XP operating systems.  Other new features/enhancements include:

• You can now back up and restore Barr configuration files using the Backup Configuration Utility.

• The Barr Enterprise Print Server now makes it easier for you to configure printers for printing to a channel printer, printing to a TCP/IP print queue, printing to a Xerox EPS, routing to another BARR/SPOOL, writing to a TCP/IP socket, or writing to disk.

• The enhanced BARR/PRINT TCP/IP option will be useful for customers who need to receive production print jobs over a TCP/IP connection from their mainframe, including mainframes equipped with packages such as IBM’s IP Printway and Levi Ray and Shoup's VPS/LCDS.   Enhanced TCP/IP support is designed to allow mainframe print data, such as Xerox LCDS and Metacode to be easily transferred from the mainframe to the Barr computer without any conversions taking place.  Receiving IP Printway files using LPD will populate additional header fields such as Form Name, Class and Destination based on the -o control file flag.

• If you are using Barr SNA to connect to a JES2 host, you can configure BARR/NJE to auto-start using NetView.

• The Operator Console Filters dialog box and Priorities dialog box have been combined.  You now set the module-specific priority level for displaying trace messages on the Options dialog box.  You can now view message details in Operator Console.

• The messages you receive in the Barr Enterprise Print Server have been redesigned.  With an Internet connection, you can link from the message box directly to Barr Central where you can learn more about the message and available solutions.

• You can now configure printers to bypass Windows spooling and write directly to the Barr port.  Selecting the Bypass the Windows spooler option on the Advanced Printer Options dialog box will provide more accurate printer status messages in the Spool Window and the Operator Console.  This option is only available for printing to a channel printer with the Barr PRINT390 port.

• You can now automatically or manually update the Barr Retain window settings to match the Spool Window settings.

• You can now use a Record mode to view documents with the Viewer utility.

• BARR/PRINT AFP now supports printing native AFP bitmap fonts.  There are also additional options available in the AFP configuration files, such as scale-to-fit printing.

Did you know?

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

Barr - Routing Print Jobs by File Size

You can use the Greater Than (>) and Less Than (<) characters in the size column as routing criteria.  For example, if you want jobs larger than 5 MB to go to a particular high-speed printer, you can use >5000000 in the size column as routing criteria for that printer.  Use <5000000 in the size column as routing criteria for all other printers.  This will ensure that only jobs greater than 5 MB go to the high-speed printer.

Barr - Print Test Page Button

When you view a document, you can click the button to print the selected page displayed on the Viewer.  This is very useful for reprinting documents.

When reprinting to Xerox laser printers, you can print the page(s) that contain the DJDEs, and then reprint the remainder of the job from a selected range.  This avoids the need to reprint the entire document.  The Viewer remains open and advances to the next page with each click of the Test Page button.  The printer must be in Ready state for the selected page to print.

Frequently Asked Questions

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http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

Q. How many printers can Barr drive at once?

A. Lots of variables come into play here, but as a rule of thumb:

Via Bus & Tag: Up to 6 printers can be daisy-chained, achieving 700+ pages per minute.

Via TCP/IP: At least 8 high-speed is typical, possibly as high as 12-15 (2500-3000 ppm).

Via LAN: A dozen or more simultaneous outputs is a fairly common scenario.

To File: Barr can write over 3 Gigabytes per hour, presuming a fairly fast disk subsystem.

Q. How many Emtex INPUT modules are required to keep my ten Xerox Postscript printers running at rated speed?

A. As Emtex can input at around 2500 ppm continuously, in theory one is sufficient.  However, with this number of printers, in order to get them all started quickly, two is the recommended number.  If very LARGE jobs are encountered, Emtex can job-split across several output devices.  (With provision for a Development station, which must not impact production printing in any way, three input modules would be sufficient.)

Q. Who is/are Atac?

A. Atac is the Barr and Emtex Distributor for Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.  With over ten years experience in the market, we support systems running 24x7x365 from Christchurch to Tokyo and Perth to Mumbai, in most of the largest print shops in the region.

Our customers include banks, print bureaux, financial institutions and petro-chemical companies as well as printer and mainframe vendors.  Outsourcing organisations and facilities management companies make extensive use of Atac’s expertise.

Atac is privately owned, with an extensive technical background stretching back over thirty years of continuously profitable operation.

Feedback

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http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk (Australia/NZ)
or call +61 3 9521-8070

Your feedback is valuable to Atac and helps us provide the high standard of service which you have come to expect from us, and which we are proud to deliver.  Whether you have questions about our product range, a story to share regarding your experiences, or you would like to comment on our newsletter, just click here to send us an e-mail.

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