JDF strengthens its position as industry standard at CIP4 event

85 participants from more than 30 international print media companies were present at the conference in Germany, meeting with the aim of consolidating the job definition format (JDF) as the open-industry standard while also enhancing its functionality.

The participants were taken mainly from the development departments of participating companies, and worked on increasing the possibilities for exchanging the data format between individual workflow systems from different manufacturers. An agreement was also reached on the enhancements to be included in JDF 1.3, the next iteration of the standard that will focus on functions for packaging printing and security when exchanging data online.

According to Rainer Prosi, chief technical officer at the conference, the meeting provided a further boost to the establishment of JDF in the print media industry. “It became clear that JDF is currently being incorporated across the board into products from workflow providers and, in a few years time, will be as common as PDF format.”

Heidelberg's vice president of product management Jörg Bauer also affirmed the company's support for the standard. “Heidelberg will continue to fully support the further development of JDF through its far-reaching commitment to CIP4.”

The CIP4 Interoperability Conference certainly wasn't the last word on the development of the standard - the next meeting will held from March 24 - 30 this year, in Pittsburgh, USA.