HELIOS News 14 September, 2004

The time needed to process a Create PDF spool job of a 25 MB CMYK PostScript image is about 65 seconds; the processing time in Distiller is 61 seconds, while the data transfer via TCP/IP takes only 4 seconds. This clearly shows that the "Create PDF Server" solution performs excellently by distributing the creation of PDF jobs to dedicated Macintosh- or Windows PC-based workstations or servers.
  Acrobat 4.0.5 Acrobat 5 Acrobat 6 Acrobat 7 Acrobat 8
Mac OS X planned
Mac OS 9
Windows

More information on "Create PDF Server on Mac OS X using Distiller 6"

Benefits:

  • Server-based automatic PDF creation from any UNIX, Macintosh, or Windows client by printing to a HELIOS "Create PDF" print queue.
  • "Create PDF Server" works without any local configuration of the Macintosh/Windows server, the Distiller settings are attached to the HELIOS printer queue.
  • PDF creation requires a lot of computing which will be off-loaded from the UNIX server to a dedicated server, e.g. a Macintosh with a FastEthernet connection.
  • On-the-fly PostScript distilling on the dedicated server (no temporary PostScript files).
  • There is only the spooled job stored on the HELIOS server. Font or OPI resolving is done on-the-fly and does not use additional disk space on the HELIOS server.
  • Error Messages will be saved to the EtherShare printer accounting log file and sent back to the user by e-mail.
  • The created PDF document will be attached to the hold queue, similar to the HELIOS PrintPreview application.
  • The created PDF document can be saved to any HELIOS volume, or into a subfolder which can be created for each user name.
  • Job distribution to the next available "Create PDF Server" - EtherShare supports balance queues which allow a cluster of "dedicated" servers which are used to distill many print jobs in parallel.
  • Distiller security settings can be specified individually for each queue with EtherShare Admin.
  • No shared folder/volume needed; "Create PDF Server" behaves like a network printer.
  • Job-pipelining via multiple queues allows the creation of PDF files with different settings, e.g. one input job produces web-, press- and archive-optimized PDF files.
  • "Create PDF Server" fail safety; when multiple "Create PDF Servers" are used, automatic load balancing (cluster) ensures availability in case one server node should fail.

Performance:

  • Our experience shows that the Distiller can process PDF files from PostScript between 100 kB/sec up to several MBytes per second. This depends on the job data: images are faster, text and a lot of objects are slower, downsampling is slowing down further. The "Create PDF Server" can receive and send data up to 10 Mbytes a second, but Distiller is not able to process PostScript this fast. There is no loss of performance creating the PDF on a remote "Create PDF Server".
  • The Macintosh or PC should be connected with 100Mbit Ethernet or faster. A 10Mbit network will work but will not keep Distiller busy, we recommend 100MBit.
  • "Create PDF Server" works several times faster than Distiller via network "hot folders".
PDF HandShake 2.1 supports as well the PDF Internet Printing feature. For more detailed information see our Press Release.

See the product description of the currently shipped PDF HandShake version.

Like to see a demo?

If you are interested in PDF HandShake 2.1 or other HELIOS products, just see your HELIOS dealer and ask for a presentation.
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