I want to know if anyone out there is using this tool. I haven't had a chance to play with it. Seems like it offers quite a bit, but no idea how it compares to the rest of the packages out there...

Also, it looks like someone from web4print is here now. Hopefully they can tell us a bit more about their product / offerings?

Ok, had a chance to review their site...

Is this just a ASP solution? In other words, do you guys host all the hardware and software?

If so, what is the uptime guarantee and security whitepapers for customer data?

Why the 8 page limit?

As the printer, how do I get the files? As optimized Variable output (ie, PPML, VDX, VIPP?) or flat postscript / pdf files?

Can it do imposition?

Is the shopping cart SSL based? Can it handle credit card transactions with custom merchants? Or do you have to use your credit card handler? Can you use the credit card processing as a virtual terminal to process other transactions? What fees are associated with credit card processing? What cards do you accept?

Just some quick questions that popped up...

Thank you for your interest Patrick! And probing questions that I hope I can answer well...

>> Is this just a ASP solution? In other words, do you guys host all the hardware and software?

This is the standard arrangement, however we look at individual cases for licensing servers to be hosted onsite. We also license servers for integration into other solutions.

>> If so, what is the uptime guarantee and security whitepapers for customer data?

As far as I know we don't explicitly guarantee uptime, however the system is monitored by sysadmins 24hrs/day. In my experience of the last couple years, we have had only brief downtime on a couple occasions. We are running Apache web servers under Linux OS. As for customer data (that is to say, uploaded art/text for variable components), we are using standard http which is of course potentially vulnerable to interception in transit. We don't store anything sensitive in our database (e.g. credit card details). We do use https for live credit card processing in online storefront applications. We could theoretically set up an https connection for other data as well but haven't had the need to as yet.

>> Why the 8 page limit?

The Web4Print Server is built around Arbortext Advanced Publisher, which is a formatting engine that was originally known as 3B2. We are licensed to use this technology in such a way that there is no risk of competing with AAP. One of these restrictions is the 8-page limit - AAP is primarily used for automated production of lengthy documents such as the documentation for Boeing aircraft. We have had cases where we were ultimately producing longer documents; but the processing is only of a single page at a time - so really the 8-pg. limit is only an issue where text needs to flow across more than 8 pages.

>> As the printer, how do I get the files? As optimized Variable output (ie, PPML, VDX, VIPP?) or flat postscript / pdf files?

Files can be output as PostScript, EPS, PDF, or any of the standard image formats. I have to plead ignorance as to the formats you mention - do these have to do with separating static and variable components for optimal processing at the print end? We usually supply PDF.

>> Can it do imposition?

Yes - at present we manually add production scripts on the server side when imposition is necessary, but we are in the process of building more comprehensive administrative tools for our customers to create imposition and other settings per job or per client.

>> Is the shopping cart SSL based? Can it handle credit card transactions with custom merchants? Or do you have to use your credit card handler? Can you use the credit card processing as a virtual terminal to process other transactions? What fees are associated with credit card processing? What cards do you accept?

The shopping cart is a customized build of osCommerce, which is an open-source PHP-based shopping cart system. The standard modules included provide for connections to authorize.net, paypal, and a few others. Development of custom modules for other merchants would be fairly straightforward. Yes, SSL is used for all financial transactions, but other data travels over http.

Just to avoid confusion, I should mention that the standard Web4Print system doesn't include the shopping cart - rather, our clients (typically printers) create accounts for their customers who then log in to produce their jobs. The shopping cart facility is provided for businesses offering customizable printed products online to the general public.

Thanks again for your interest, Patrick. Hope I've answered your questions adequately! I'm away for a week starting tomorrow so if you have any follow-up questions I apologize in advance for the delay...of course we are always available at info@web4print.com.

-Andrew

I really appreciate the answers... Sounds like an interesting alternative to the VI solutions I know of.

Glad to see another package based on a linux / apache platform and not Windows / IIS...

When I have some free time, I'll give a demo a shot. I'm curious how the imposition and output works, especially with lots of records or versions.

Thanks for the answers!