furuta@MIMSY.UMD.EDU (03/18/86)
Here's a press release that may be of interest to the group: NEW YORK, Jan. 8, Xerox Corporation announced an expansion of the Interpress printing architecture and its application to additional products. Interpress is a page and document description language that allows different kinds of computers and workstations to use a variety of printers without additional programs for code conversion. More than 20 vendors have announced their support for the Interpress Standard. This announcement includes the availability of Interpress 3.0, which adds new capabilities such as curves and dash line graphics, and a Font Interchange standard which enables the exchange of fonts among different workstations and printers. Xerox provides Interpress capabilities in virtually all of its workstations and document creation devices, from the Memorywriter 645 to the XPS 700 publishing system, and its family of laser printers, from small office models to high speed units for data centers, and Group III facsimile devices. Interpress 3.0 defines three Interpress Sets to meet the requirements of different printing applications: a Commercial Set, Publication Set and Professional Graphics Set. The purpose of this division is to reduce costs and increase throughput for the customer by providing only the functions needed to meet application requirements. The Commercial Set is for applications that include text, forms, and images read into the system by scanners, such as the Xerox 150 graphic input station. The Publication Set is for producing office and technical publications and for business and engineering documents. The Professional Graphics Set includes the characteristics needed for the first two sets plus gray scale elements for process color, rotation of text and graphics at any angles, and "clipping" in any shape for graphics applications. The Interpress Commercial Set is now available for the Xerox 4050, 8700 and 9700 laser printers, and will be available on the 3700 later this year. The Publication set, including curved graphics and dashed lines, will be made available on the NS 8000 Laser CP and 8044 and, using the recently announced Formatting Print Service, will be available for the 4050, 8700 and 9700 in the second half of this year. The 3700 will support the Publication set next year. The Professional Graphics Set will also be offered for the 4045 Laser CP and phototypesetters later this year. The Interpress Standard allows a full array of color printing capabilities ranging from highlight color to full process color. Interpress capabilities will also be available in the Xerox Interpress Transform Architecture (XITA), which allows transfer of information from various host computer printing architectures, including IBM's Advanced Function Printing Architecture, to Xerox Interpress printers. Xerox also provides software that allows the IBM PC, DEC VAX/VMS, and Berkeley Unix systems to generate Interpress. While the initial use of Interpress has been via Ethernet and the XNS protocols, Xerox printers in 1986 will accept Interpress through a data channel interface. Other communication interfaces such as RS 232 and Centronics and magnetic media will follow. The new standard documents will be given free of charge to those who have already purchased the Interpress documents. Others wishing to purchase the Interpress standard documents may do so at a cost of $25 for the Interpress standard documentsor $50 for the entire set of Interpress related documents. Please send your prepaid orders to, or contact for further information: Xerox Systems Institute 2100 Geng Road, Palo Alto, Ca 94303 Tel 415-496-6511