Pageflex Releases Persona 2007

Bitstream Releases Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite 2007
Major release of the Pageflex Persona variable data desktop application delivers unlimited design and content variability, graphic design enhancements, and features that streamline the production process

Cambridge, MA — March 1 , 2007 — Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS www.bitstream.com), the leading provider of variable data and Web-to-print software for personalized marketing, announced today the release of Pageflex™ Persona™ Cross Media Suite 2007. This is a significant upgrade to the company’s desktop software that enables the creation of database-driven variable data print and personalized HTML emails. This release introduces new features that provide unlimited design and content variability within an individual document, as well as graphic design and production workflow enhancements. Demonstrations of the new release are being given in booth number 1603 of the Xplor/Graphics of the Americas conference being held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, FL, March 2 – 4, 2007.

Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite 2007 includes the following new features:

Document Actions—This powerful new feature set gives power users the ability to create documents with unlimited variability. Every aspect of a print document—including variable values, content, attributes, colors, fonts, pages, shapes, and text—can be modified on a record by record basis. For example, users can create document actions to re-distribute white space, to insert additional content based on space availability, or change the color scheme of a document based on a recipient’s demographic profile. This unique capability surpasses what other variable publishing applications on the market allow.
Global Copyfit—This enhanced copyfitting feature enables graphic designers to ensure consistent typography settings across a document even when text settings are adjusted to fit overflow variable text. The template designer can designate that specific containers in a document (e.g. caption boxes) all maintain the same type settings (font size, leading, tracking, etc.) when the document is produced, even if the text in only one of the containers has been copyfit. For instance, a customized sales brochure will maintain a consistent look for all product descriptions since each description will adopt the type specifications of any description that was copyfit. The patented flex capability of the Pageflex composition engine ensures that any extra white space generated by this process can be distributed on the page in a pleasing manner consistent with the template designer’s vision.

Bézier drawing tools—Graphic designers can add complex curves and shapes to their page layouts.
Text on a Bézier path—Static or variable text can be inserted and edited on curved or irregular paths.

Conversion of shapes to text containers—Designers can now convert shape elements into both regular and Bézier text containers.
Imposition—Step-and-repeat and cut-and-stack imposition options enable one record or multiple records to be automatically imposed on a press sheet.
Paper Tray Selection—Individual document pages can be assigned to specific paper trays on the digital press so that multiple stocks or pre-printed sheets can be co-mingled within a document.
Batch Production—Database-driven jobs with a high number of variable records can be set up to output a given number of records to a single file and then produce the next batch of records in a separate file.
Additional production workflow enhancements

In addition to producing database-driven variable data documents, Persona also can be used in conjunction with other Pageflex server products, including Pageflex Storefront, to give users the ability to construct the most efficient production workflows for their company. All Persona templates and projects—both print and HTML—are compatible with other Pageflex products and can be submitted to a Pageflex server product for production. No conversion or rework is necessary. This migration path is essential for distribute-and-print workflows, local testing, and in situations in which a print service provider’s (PSP) customer develops the template and variable rules and then submits a project to the PSP for hosting and ongoing Web-to-print production. Similarly, projects initially developed in a Pageflex server product can be opened, edited, and produced directly from Persona.

“Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite enables marketers to use a simple desktop tool to produce everything from a personalized letter or business cards to the most sophisticated one-to-one communications in both print and email,” says Anna Chagnon, Bitstream CEO. “This major new release gives Persona customers enhanced creative controls enabling them to produce the most compelling documents they can imagine. And the new streamlined print production options will help our print provider customers to implement more efficient and cost-effective workflows.”

Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite 2007 will be available as of March 7, 2007.

About Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite

Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite delivers powerful features not found in other variable data extensions or applications, allowing it to serve as campaign central for personalized cross-media marketing programs. Among the compelling features are cross-media capabilities for creating coordinated, personalized print and email campaigns; variable-length document capabilities; support for workflows that imprint variable data on preprinted color shells; and the ability to compose text in more than 60 languages, including Japanese and Chinese. The core technology features a robust XML composition engine, designed specifically for variable data, and patented "flex" technology that automatically resizes items on a page based on the amount of custom content added.

As a desktop application, Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite provides a powerful entry point for companies seeking to drive communications and production workflows with database information. Users produce one-to-one targeted and personalized documents including direct-mail postcards, promotional mailers and emails, coupons, business cards, event-related collateral, marketing materials, travel itineraries, personalized booklets and much more.

About Bitstream

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) is a software development company that makes communications compelling. Bitstream enables customers worldwide to render high-quality text, publish all things variable, browse the Web on wireless devices, select from the largest collection of fonts online, and customize documents over the Internet. Its core competencies include font technology, browsing technology, e-commerce technology, and variable data publishing technology. You can visit Bitstream on the Web at www.bitstream.com.

Bitstream is a pioneer and technology innovator in the variable data printing market starting with its introduction of variable data software in 1997. Bitstream’s Pageflex software enables template design, flexible layouts, personalization, customization, document scaling, variable-length documents, Web-to-print portals, interactive online editing, cross media marketing, and personalized e-mails and web sites. Pageflex provides the capability to produce all things variable for printers, advertising agencies, marketing services companies, and corporate marketing departments worldwide.