Digital Solutions has been over for a couple of days and I am beginning to get an overall take on it. There could have been more people there and this may be because the expectations and promotion mismatched on what was there. The Digital Camera Show was not promoted as such. Maybe more management types attend a workflow show if they think there won't be too many anoraks looking for cheap cameras. I'm not too sure about this as actually quite a range of people look at what is on offer. So the camera stands were still there and getting interest. Fuji was the main brand represented with their own stand.

However the conventional litho mainstream was probably not there in large numbers. The workflow presentations from Agfa and Creo should have had massive audiences based on the content. Networked Graphic Production (NGP) is a concept that is under development. The Apogee X as described will probably not change much before Print City at drupa. So the workflow theatre was a chance to look at how JDF can work. Reports of rivalry between an NGP camp and Print City seem to be exaggerated. Actually most JDF systems can work with each other as well as any XML standard works with Microsoft.

The scope of Digital Print World is limited to digital print but issues may come up such as workflow for litho and moving content to the web.

Maybe there is a question for all print exhibiitons, though this is hard to assess. drupa is fully booked. Even if IIR develop an annual digital show over the next three years there could still be many people in the British printing industry who will concentrate on the mechanical engineering available at IPEX.