Global Graphics
Encyclopedia
Global Graphics SA is a group of companies known for their digital printing products, including the Harlequin
and Jaws RIP
s. In May 2009 the company launched gDoc Fusion, an edocument builder software application designed for ease of use to create, review, edit, share and archive PDF and XPS documents. On 1 December 2009, Global Graphics launched enterprise-level free PDF creation software; gDoc Creator.
Global Graphics started in Nancy, France
in November 1996 and was listed on the Euronext
market in Brussels
. An initial public offering on the Easdaq market started trading on June 23, 1998 with a total of 765,000 shares, increased from 680,000 in the March prospectus.
, XPS, Word
, Excel
or PowerPoint as well as image files, edit them, and save the results as a PDF, XPS or Word document without the user needing to have Microsoft Office
or other software installed.
Key Features:
gDoc Fusion is available initially in English and German for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Key Features:
"The Harlequin flagship RIP management product (ScriptWorks) is widely regarded as the benchmark high-resolution, high-speed, full feature RIP for the DP&P sector. Harlequin has further RIP offerings, notably its recently launched SOAR; (Scalable Open Architecture) line."
"A second product offering, HIntS (Harlequin Intelligence Systems), which is aimed at the law enforcement, banking and insurance industries, among others, represents 15% of total sales. HIntS consists of suites of powerful, scalable integrated information management solutions."
Global Graphics has main offices in Cambourne
, UK; Acton MA, USA; Tokyo
, Japan; and Pune
, India.
Harlequin RIP
The Harlequin RIP was first released in 1990 under the name “ScriptWorks” running as a command-line application to render PostScript language files under Unix...
and Jaws RIP
Raster image processor
A raster image processor is a component used in a printing system which produces a raster image also known as a bitmap. The bitmap is then sent to a printing device for output. The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language such as PostScript, Portable Document...
s. In May 2009 the company launched gDoc Fusion, an edocument builder software application designed for ease of use to create, review, edit, share and archive PDF and XPS documents. On 1 December 2009, Global Graphics launched enterprise-level free PDF creation software; gDoc Creator.
Global Graphics started in Nancy, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in November 1996 and was listed on the Euronext
Euronext
Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Amsterdam and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...
market in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. An initial public offering on the Easdaq market started trading on June 23, 1998 with a total of 765,000 shares, increased from 680,000 in the March prospectus.
History
- On June 30, 1998 the company finalised the acquisition by its wholly owned subsidiary, Photoméca, of the Italian company AZ srl, who manufacture flexographicFlexographyFlexography is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is basically an updated version of letterpress that can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper...
equipment.
- On 2 May 1999 the company acquired Heights Design Production Ltd, a manufacturer of lithographic plate-processing equipment and proofing equipment based in Wainstalls, near HalifaxHalifax, West YorkshireHalifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
, U.K.
- On 21 April 1999 the company signed a letter of intent to buy Technigraph Products Limited, a ThetfordThetfordThetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
based provider of lithographic processing equipment, to be completed in July.
- On 12 July 1999 the company bought Harlequin Group PlcHarlequin (software company)Harlequin was formerly a technology company based in Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts. They specialized in printing applications, graphical applications, law enforcement applications, and programming language implementations...
after Harlequin Ltd (the R&D company in the group) went into receivership, and have since used the Harlequin RIPHarlequin RIPThe Harlequin RIP was first released in 1990 under the name “ScriptWorks” running as a command-line application to render PostScript language files under Unix...
products to build a product portfolio in the graphic arts and commercial print, newsprintNewsprintNewsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
, digital print, and document markets.
- During 1999 the company also acquired ICG, a scannerImage scannerIn computing, an image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop scanner where the document is placed on a glass...
and platesetterPlatesetterA platesetter is a machine which receives a raster image from a raster image processor and in turn, creates a lithographic plate suitable for use on an offset press....
manufacturer.
- On August 29, 2000, Jaws Systems Ltd was formed from the Digital Publishing division of 5D Solutions Ltd., bringing the existing products Jaws RIP and Jaws PDF Creator into the Printing Software division. The company business model includes selling software to OEMs who build products around it; for example, by licensing RIP software for use by laser printer manufacturers who embed the software inside their printer.
- In 2001 the company reorganised its subsidiary companies, with former hardware businesses Photomeca, Colomag, Kelleigh, AZ, ICG, Heights Technologies and Technigraph forming the Hardware Division, and Harlequin Limited, Harlequin Inc, and Jaws Systems Limited forming the Software Division. The Hardware division of the company, which dealt in lithographic, flexographic, letterpress and scanning equipment, was sold in October 2002 to a group led by the former head of the hardware division, Gary Jones, who had resigned from the board in February.
- In 2003 Global Graphics was chosen by MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
to provide consultancy and proof of concept development services on XPS and worked with the WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
development teams on the specification for the new format.
- In May 2009, Global Graphics launched gDoc Fusion http://www.globalgraphics.com/en/gdoc/, edocument builder software aimed at knowledge workers and designed with usability in mind for users to create, review, edit, share and archive PDF and XPS documents.
- On 1 December 2009, Global Graphics launched gDoc Creator http://www.globalgraphics.com/creator, a free enterprise-level creator to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents.
- In January 2010, Global Graphics completed a survey http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=18518 with 400 Chief Information Officers from organisations with over 1000 employees across the US and the UK that shows three quarters (76 per cent) of large organisations use free software across the enterprise with over half (51 per cent) planning to deploy more free software in 2010.
- In May 2010, Global Graphics launched gDoc Fusion 2.5 allowing multiple incompatible files to be merged into a single document through a simple drag and drop action. gDoc Fusion 2.5 enables users to create a summary, report or other document that combine spreadsheets, slides, images, text, PDFs and more than 200 other types of document.
Information about gDoc Fusion
gDoc Fusion lets users drag and drop pages from PDFPortable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
, XPS, Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
, Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
or PowerPoint as well as image files, edit them, and save the results as a PDF, XPS or Word document without the user needing to have Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
or other software installed.
Key Features:
- Page View – enables users to read and modify individual PDF pages with the context-sensitive toolbar. Sticky notes and bookmarks can be added to pages and users can use text search and replace
- Document View – allows users to extract, move, copy or delete pages between multiple open documents using easy drag and drop actions. Users can combine pages from multiple PowerPoint files, easily retaining different templates and formatting
- Flick View – allows users to visually search through pages to find information like a physical document but onscreen
- Assembly View – collate, convert, read and share documents from over 200 different formats in a single view page. Page preview functions and ‘page stacks’ features allows organisation of chapters or document sections
- Multi-format viewer – gDoc Fusion is able to view more than 200 word processor, spreadsheet, image and drawing formats
- LaunchPad – Compact interface to take minimum screen space and use drag-and-drop action to open files
- Finish Document Wizard – offers a guided process to enter document summary information, password security, opening view modes before saving with settings for print or web publishing
gDoc Fusion is available initially in English and German for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Information about gDoc Creator
gDoc Creator http://www.globalgraphics.com/creator, is a free enterprise-level creator to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents.Key Features:
- Create PDF, PDF/a (for long-term archiving of electronic documents) or XPS documents from any Windows application that prints
- Create PDF, PDF/a or XPS from the toolbar in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, complete with bookmarks, hypertext links
- Create PDF, PDF/a or XPS from a drag and drop user interface
- Convert PDF to .doc format for re-use in Microsoft Word
- View documents in multiple formats and in a 'flick view' to quickly browse documents
Information about Harlequin
When Global Graphics bought Harlequin in 1999, the press release included the following information about the Harlequin product line of the time:"The Harlequin flagship RIP management product (ScriptWorks) is widely regarded as the benchmark high-resolution, high-speed, full feature RIP for the DP&P sector. Harlequin has further RIP offerings, notably its recently launched SOAR; (Scalable Open Architecture) line."
"A second product offering, HIntS (Harlequin Intelligence Systems), which is aimed at the law enforcement, banking and insurance industries, among others, represents 15% of total sales. HIntS consists of suites of powerful, scalable integrated information management solutions."
Global Graphics has main offices in Cambourne
Cambourne
Cambourne is a new settlement and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It lies on the A428 road between Cambridge, 9 miles to the east, and St Neots and Bedford to the west. It comprises the three villages of Great Cambourne, Lower Cambourne and Upper...
, UK; Acton MA, USA; Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan; and Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, India.