Ten Years After: CIP4 and the Creation of JDF

With the release of JDF 1.1a in September of 2002, the industry had its first version of the JDF specification that was ready for development. However, JDF isn't about any one product, but the integration of products, and for this reason, CIP4 began holding interoperability testing events or "Interops" where members could bring products in development to test interchange with other vendors privately. "The first Interop was hosted by Adobe in March of 2003," said Harvey. "I was there mostly as an observer, and it was quite a spectacle. There were a room full of people with laptops, a server and cords everywhere. The group was trying to create a network with all different press controllers, MIS, prepress systems, and the like, yet even with firewall and other connectivity issues, folks were exchanging JDF within 30 minutes. CIP4's 19th Interop will be held in Nice this fall, and it would not be surprising for 200 to 300 pairings of systems to be tested. Behind the scenes, the degree of cooperation, even among competitors in the market, is just amazing."