Xerox acquires Impika to extend its foothold in high-speed inkjet. It also launches FreeFlow Core, a modular browser-based workflow that uses Adobe PDF and rendering technology to drive digital presses and copiers.
After a few years of lackluster updates, Apple completely revamps its Mac Pro high-end workstation. The top model ships with a 2.7 GHz 12-core Xeon processor, 64GB RAM, and 1TB flash storage. Monitors and external storage are connected using 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports.
Swiss CTP system manufacturer Luscher goes bankrupt.
Adobe announces that it will not release any new versions of the Creative Suite and that future versions of its software will only be available only through the Creative Cloud. This means customers can no longer buy a perpetual license but are required to sign up for a monthly or yearly subscription plan.
Adobe also launches version 3 of the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE), the RIP software to generate data for CtP machines, digital presses, and other output devices. The new Mercury RIP architecture allows multiple instances of APPE to processes pages in parallel to make optimum use of the available hardware.
At Labelexpo trade show Hybrid Software introduces PACKZ, a PDF-based editor for packaging and label workflows. The software runs on Mac OS X and Windows platforms and provides 64-bit multi-processing and multi-threading facilities, eliminates the need for file conversions or proprietary file formats.
EFI acquires Metrix as well as the MIS vendors printLEADER (USA), Gamsys Software (Belgium) and Lector (Germany).
Emerald (Pantone 17-5641) is the color of the year.
The JDF 1.5 standard is released, with a focus on digital printing and web-to-print (via PrintTalk)
Once again a bill from Kazakstan is banknote of the year.
These are some important or remarkable events from 2013:
- Nelson Mandela dies at age 95.
- Microsoft buys the mobile phone business of Nokia for $7.2 billion.
- Bitcoin becomes the first popular virtual currency.
- In the USA cities can go bankrupt. Detroit is indeed forced to file for bankruptcy.
- Edward Snowden leaks information about the way the US National Security Agency (NSA) collects massive amounts of data.