Time-consuming error searches during print campaigns in Switzerland are a thing of the past – PrintOnline operates a PDF-based display portal from products developed by callas software.

For nearly ten years, PrintOnline AG has been instrumental regarding the Swiss advertising and printing industry. What sounds first of all like a stroke of genius for an internet start-up company has been located in a suburb of Zurich for a long time. PrintOnline AG operates a fully automated digital portal for sending announcements over the internet. What is to be seen on the flat screens in the five-person company is this: nearly all large print advertising campaigns of the country are completed over the POLDIRECT portal. From automakers to the food industry to indigenous wholesale distributors – altogether approximately 50 percent of all Swiss print announcements run over PrintOnline AG’s server. So, at peak times, up to 14,000 announcements are processed per month and up to 1,000 are processed per day.

“We have consciously decided in favor of the Zurich region, because the center of the Swiss printing and advertising industry is here“, explains Kurt Obrist, Managing Director of PrintOnline AG. Launched at the end of 1996, the portal took off in February of 1997. Founded as a joint venture of three large publishing houses, Ringier, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and Tamedia AG, as well as Publicitas, as a national marketing organization for the Swiss press, the company pursues two goals:
1. On the one hand, it offers its advertising clients the possibility of digitally submitting their print announcements to all the well-known newspapers and magazines of Switzerland; 2. On the other hand, it supplies the printing and publishing houses connected to the system with PDF advertisements that are verified and ready to print. The proposal is not financed by announcement and advertising clients but instead by the affiliated publishing houses, who profit doubly: PrintOnline guarantees that all sources of error, which can cause high costs at printing, are eliminated at the outset. Just as important: Necessary coordination between advertising departments and clients are reduced to a minimum thus saving money.

Meanwhile, the expanding company is so well known that it verifies and processes not only advertisements but also an entire regional newspaper over the system.

“It usually takes between 10 and 20 seconds until a PDF is completely verified, a low resolution version and thumbnail are generated, as well as all data, report included, and is written back into the database. Only callas’ CLI tools can do that.“
Roman Vogel, PrintOnline’s IT Chief


callas software sets the standard

The heart of the control system are products of callas software. Detailed announcements in PDF format are, first of all, put through the acid test by pdfInspektor3 CLI, which is integrated into the portal. If the files for use are suitable in the prepress stage, the clients immediately receive a report displayed on the internet page and an automatic confirmation e-mail from the system. In the next step, another callas software product, pdfCorrect CLI, produces, in addition to the original, a low resolution copy of the file – as a test by the advertising client or media agency. Then, the advertisements are forwarded on to the printer.

Like the office space, all server, storage and network components from PrintOnline are also housed in the NZZ buildings in Schlieren. In this setup, two Linux servers form the test backbone of the portals. Altogether eight files can be verified and processed at the same time employing them. Thus, the load is evenly distributed on both servers, and this ensures a continuous workflow.

“From the beginning, we were set on Linux, because it ensures the constant accessibility and stability of the system to the best extent possible,” says IT Chief Roman Vogel. Therefore, in intensive cooperation with callas software, the first Linux CLI command line modules were optimized, which verify PDF files 365 days a year and also correct according to the requirements. However, constant accessibility is not only a challenge to the system but also to data forwarding, because, as some of the affiliated newspapers allow data to be sent, others would like to retrieve it themselves. Therefore, the entire technology must not only run particularly in a stable fashion but, at any time, also be flexible enough for new requests and customer wishes. “That is another reason why we use callas software’s CLI tools: they are not only fast and stable but can also be easily adapted to new workflow environments,” Kurt Obrist explains.

“In addition, we are fully set on standard components. callas software, as inventors of the preflight verification in Adobe Acrobat, sets the standard.”

“In order to operate a display portal, one needs high-quality tools, which work in a stable fashion and can give a strong performance. For three years, we have continuously used callas’ CLI tools, and we are very satisfied.”
Kurt Obrist, Managing Director, PrintOnline