REPORT(US)

Drive down to south 30 minutes by bus from Frankfurt International Airport, there is Darmstadt. Considering the number of its inhabitants Darmstadt is not one of the largest cities in Germany. But it is actually on top position in various rankings in Germany and Europe.

This Interop was held at Fraunhofer IGD which is a secretariat of CIP4 and located in the city of Darmstadt.



It takes just 30 minutes from the hotel to IGD by subway. IGD is locating in quiet resident block and it is a facility of an university. It was established in 1996 as a NPO supported by printing industry in Germany. In this facility, printing presses, prepress systems and other equipments are installed. This facility provides education using with such equipments to improve graphic arts technology in this area.

65 people of 35 companies got together from the world. 5 Japanese of 4 companies attended. Almost double people attended this Interop compare with last Montreal one.



Komori sent one engineer for this Interop. Registered product is K-Station Ver. 3.03 beta at this time. Komori tested with 9 MIS companies/systems and very minor problem on tests we experienced. However, it is not so big problem we think. By above result, number of integration available MIS with Komori’s K-Station came up to 16.



In the second half of this Interop, big meeting was held for following items. Consolidation of complicated specifications, plan for next version of JDF, output format of specifications, plan for next Interop, etc.

IGD arranged an evening social events during Interop. That was the guided tour through the Oppenheim Cellar Labyrinth and Wine tasting. After then, everyone enjoyed nice dinner at there.



Next 18th Interop Event will be held at Newport News, Virginia, USA in March 22 through 26, 2010 and host will be Muller Martini.