Océ Repro Desk Studio
Put a smile on your interface
By Dave Howell who specializes in reprographics and has a great deal of journalistic experience
The new Océ Repro Desk Studio platform will revolutionize the large-format print management sector
With an ever-increasing demand for decentral printing of technical documents on a correspondingly diverse range of print production hardware, a simple, uniform print management system that end-users can rely on is now essential.
The market for wide-format printing has continued to expand over the last few years. Job management for desktop reprographics has now been joined by a complete what-you-see-is-what-you-get platform. Océ Repro Desk Studio is Océ’s new core technology that enables AEC, corporate, and manufacturing customers to use a single tool to efficiently manage wide format printing on their Océ-installed machines or other brands. Océ Repro Desk Studio is also scalable, making it ideal for the smallest architect to the largest multi-machine corporate customer.
Océ Repro Desk Studio’s development is a direct result of Océ’s understanding of its customers’ requirements. Knowledge workers spend a lot of time creating, reviewing, updating and managing technical documents. In those companies a great deal of time is also spent on maintaining the required IT infrastructure. This puts pressure on time management and costs within these organizations. Océ recognizes the need to optimize their customers’ business printing process. Océ Repro Desk Studio helps customers to build better businesses and reduce costs, whether they are a designer, document specialist, IT administrator or general manager in an architectural, engineering or manufacturing environment.
Océ Repro Desk Studio is the latest product of the Océ Repro Desk suite of software products. This new software tool provides end-users with a simple, uniform way of viewing and printing technical documents, with integrated accounting capabilities–all delivered within a user-friendly interface.
“Océ Repro Desk Studio software gives end-users an easy-to-use entry-level tool to speed and simplify their wide-format printing,” says Océ International Product Manager Lex-Jan Westra. “Now all end-users can print to their in-house print devices, or even to an external print provider, all with the same, clear user interface. Accurate job previewing for all technical document file formats shows exactly how jobs will look when printed, avoiding the need for costly reprints. The integrated accounting functions make costs transparent and allow charging to projects or customers when appropriate.”
Delivering customer benefits
The power that Océ Repro Desk Studio offers to customers is its ability to present job information in a single window, where it can easily and efficiently be prepared for print using Océ Client Tools print submission software.
Westra continues: “For our commercial customers already using Océ Repro Desk Server, the natural upgrade path is to Océ Repro Desk Professional or Océ Repro Desk Select. By upgrading, you are able to drive both color and black-and-white devices from one single application and simplify the job submission process, making it easier for your customers to deploy the submission tools and submit their jobs.”
With the introduction of Océ Repro Desk Studio, the Repro Desk family now includes:
| Studio | Select | Professional |
| General Positioning | Easy viewing | Modular print production software | High-end print production software |
| Type of User | Unskilled end-user | Key operator | Key operator |
| Target Consumer | AEC, manufacturing, government etc | Reprographers and in-house print centres | High-end reprographers |
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The Océ Repro Desk suite consists of a series of applications for print management. Océ Repro Desk Professional and Select were the first products based on Océ’s core technology platform. Professional provides unmatched end-to-end print automation features within the high-end reprographic target market. In order to reach the medium-to-low-demand reprographic market, Océ Repro Desk Select has been developed and was released in September of 2008.
AEC integration
Océ has a long history within the AEC sector, delivering world-class platforms to meet the repro demands of this market. With a range of wide-format machines available to the customer, enhancing the control, set-up and billing layer of their installations was a logical step to take. Océ Repro Desk Studio represents the culmination of a research and development program that includes a clearly defined upgrade path.
Océ software enables professionals to communicate their design ideas and technical information, both on paper and digitally, in the most effective, efficient and integrated way possible. In other words, Océ software enables customers to produce the technical documents and drawings needed when and where users want them including in-house, outsourced or remotely delivered, and in the format users need them, all with detailed audit logs.
The development of Océ software will be centered on the Océ Repro Desk technology for both commercial and corporate printing needs. Focusing on one central technology provides more focus on the end-user needs, offers the ability to have one user interface, simplifies integration with third-party applications and reduces cost and lead time in development. As Océ Repro Desk Studio is part of the Océ Repro Desk suite, it is also based on Océ’s core technology for print management, the Océ Repro Desk 2.x platform.
Océ Repro Desk Studio is the latest innovation from Océ that offers all users of wide-format machines the user interface they have been waiting for. Fast and efficient installation and a set of features that all AEC customers will instantly appreciate make this application simply indispensible. As Westra concludes: “Our AEC users will perform their day-to-day technical document workflow activities from a single desktop application, which will be based on Océ Client Tools. This includes in-house printing, print outsourcing or digital distribution. Océ Repro Desk Studio uses Océ Client Tools as the primary submission tool. Océ will continue development of the Océ Repro Desk suite and Océ Client Tools at Océ Reprographics Technologies based in Phoenix, Arizona.”