CGS (Computer Graphic Systems) Publishing Technologies International GmbH, Hainburg, Germany, was founded in 1985 with the aim of developing a page assembly system (Digi-Design) for designing magazine and catalogue pages directly on a computer. It is now a world leader in color proofing, productivity and production systems for the professional graphics arts market.
At a very early date, CGS recognized the trend towards low-cost PC global prepress solutions. ORIS software - well-established on VAX and Alpha systems -- was therefore ported to Windows NT. CGS has been selling the software based on this platform worldwide since 1997.
The ORIS software meets with excellent acceptance. For many customers, the ORIS Color Tuner, ORIS Certified Proof, ORIS Works and ORIS PDF Tuner programs have become indispensable for the production of catalogues, ads, magazines, color proofing, and small print jobs. The ORIS software family is constantly being enhanced.
Headquartered near Frankfurt, CGS has operations in the US and Canada and sales partners in all major countries. There are installations in Japan, China and India. The customer support center is based in Hainburg, Germany. CGS can be reached at any time thanks to the use of modern technologies such as e-mail and the Internet.
Image manipulations require a high level of performance. CGS therefore decided to use Digital Equipment Corporation's powerful 32-bit VAX computers. The VMS cluster technology provided for a convenient and extremely efficient interconnection of several workplaces.
Images and layouts were recorded with a camera (RGB). Page assembly with headlines, vignettes and images were done on-screen. Text areas were created using dummy text. Like today, inkjet printers were used to print copies of a layout.
The data was further processed on traditional page make-up systems. For data transfer CGS developed interfaces to Scitex, Hell-Chromacom, Crosfield and Screen systems.
Repro functions (CMYK) were eventually added to the page assembly functionality of Digi-Design. In 1991, CGS developed an online interface to the Screen scanner-recorder family 7X7 and introduced a stand-alone CEPS under the name ORIS (Open Reproduction on Industrial Standard). Due to the high performance of Alpha computers and its efficient algorithms, ORIS software offered unparalleled speed and productivity during interactive work and final page calculations.
Today, CGS` original founders -- all still going strong -- work with a powerful and efficient team which has since grown to include 35 members.
