PrintingNews.com

Extensis, a brand of Celartem Inc., today announced availability of Universal Type Server, its next generation server-based font management solution for both Macintosh and Windows environments. Universal Type Server will ship on June 18, 2008. Extensis will begin taking pre-orders for the product immediately.

Universal Type Server is a new breed of font management solution. More than just a "distribution" system, it is a true client/server solution that genuinely manages fonts and font metadata such as licenses, classifications, foundries and keywords, allowing users to collaborate in shared environments. Using granular and role-based permissions, Universal Type Server manages font licenses and compliancy by ensuring that users have access to only the fonts they are licensed to use, and that rogue fonts cannot be added to the system. Automatic font classification and font family grouping, dynamic smart sets and shared sets, all ensure a high level of productivity and usability.

"We listened to our users and they told us what they really needed from a font management solution," said Brian Berson, General Manager at Extensis. "They asked for centrally managed fonts in a controlled but easy to implement environment. Universal Type Server delivers web- and Flex-based tools; a usable, modern interface; and reliable, open SQL-based architecture. Universal Type Server is an extremely capable and powerful solution that is also easy and fun to use."

Designed to meet the needs of IT environments, Universal Type Server leverages a modern Java-based server architecture built on top of industry-proven open source technologies. This enables Universal Type Server to deliver stability, scalability, and speed while requiring very low overhead. Due to its services-oriented architecture, administrators can manage the server and users from anywhere via the web-based administration interface, and package-based installers distribute the client software from a central location, allowing IT administrators to deploy and manage the entire solution without ever needing to visit a client workstation. Active-Directory import and automated backup are just a few more of the features that contribute to making Universal Type Server extremely IT-friendly.

"Font management is vital and necessary in our business and the introduction of Universal Type Server has been one of the most anticipated software launches in the publishing industry," said Ed Haynes, Customer Support Manager of Future Publishing in the U.K. "We have been working with the pre-release version of Universal Type Server for the past few months and are convinced it will provide a solid foundation for centralised font management whilst offering easy-to-use functionality for our creative staff."