inquiry about updating Prinergy

[JoeatData]

I am ask the Prinergy users for some info.
I am in the process of researching upgradings to our workflow.

We are currently using Prinergy 4.1.2.3 and we have the upgrade for Prinergy 5.1.

Lately, we have been talking with Kodak about upgrading. Kodak has suggested we upgrade to 5.2. During these discussion we have been informed that we would have to upgrade our hardware and software to windows 8.0.

My question is why is there the need to upgrade hardware and software within the same versions?....5's..... 5.1 to 5.2. I could understand the hardware/software upgrades if we were upgrading to Prinergy 6.

How much better or what does 5.2 have to offer that 5.1 doesn't offer?

Is Kodak asking for theses hardware/software upgrades so they can offer(sell) you Prinergy 6.0 once it's released? Or is Prinergy 5.2 so drastically different that is needs these hardware/software upgrades?

 

[ajr]

Are you not worried that Kodak might not be around for much longer?? (in its present form) Just as a matter of interest.

A

 

[JoeatData]

Yeah, Kodak and their issues are also a concern.....short-term and long-term, that is if there is a long term.

 

[amybest222]

Yeah, Kodak and their issues are also a concern.....short-term and long-term, that is if there is a long term.

Not too concerned.. Our company just updated.. their prepress seems to be pretty stable – they are allready working on the next releases.. we have 6 lic for Preps, Prinergy 5.2. Insite and a full service contract.BTW I call support pretty often and get excellent service and support - no complaints and Im a prior Artworks user.. but Im completely satisfied as a consumer.. thats only my opinion!

 

[margadri]

Yeah, Kodak and their issues are also a concern.....short-term and long-term, that is if there is a long term.

If Kodak goes, Prinergy and Preps will be bought by someone else, and for sure will be an improvement. Prinergy is too good to die. Preps 6 can go in the bin (in my opinion)
Bring back Preps 5

 

[Joe]

I'm not sure of your hardware. We have a Dell PowerEdge 2900 for our Primary server and the upgrade from Prinergy 5.1 to 5.2 did not require a hardware upgrade but we did have to upgrade the OS from 32-bit Windows Server 2003 to 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and the requirements for ram went from 4 gb minimum to 8 gb minimum. We went ahead and jumped up to 20 gb of ram. The main reason we needed to upgrade is that there were known issues using Preps 6 with Prinergy 5.1.x and the only fix for that is to upgrade to Prinergy 5.2.x.

Prinergy 6 is in development and they say will be available in 2013. They are supposedly showing it at Graph Expo next month.

 

[JoeatData]

I'm not sure of your hardware. We have a Dell PowerEdge 2900 for our Primary server and the upgrade from Prinergy 5.1 to 5.2 did not require a hardware upgrade but we did have to upgrade the OS from 32-bit Windows Server 2003 to 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and the requirements for ram went from 4 gb minimum to 8 gb minimum. We went ahead and jumped up to 20 gb of ram. The main reason we needed to upgrade is that there were known issues using Preps 6 with Prinergy 5.1.x and the only fix for that is to upgrade to Prinergy 5.2.x.

We also have the Dell PowerEdge 2900(2nd generation) as a Primary server.

We would also have to upgrade to a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and increase the ram. Kodak is trying to steer us to a more modern/upgraded server that would handle Prinergy 6. Kodak told us we probably could remain with the PowerEdge Server for Prinergy 6 if it were a 3rd generation model.

My question to you Joe is: What were you using for storage and back-up before you upgraded to Prinergy 5.2.x? We are using a Qualstar 8211 with LTO Data Cartridge's. Were you using the LTO Data Cartridge's? If so, what are you currently using for storage and backup since the newer Windows Server 2008 doesn't recognize the Data Cartridges? What did you do with your previous Archived jobs?

I have heard plenty about Preps 6. I know people are not happy with it.
I do have a question with Preps 6.....Will Preps 6 see templates that were created in previous versions of Preps? We currently have Prep 5.3.3 and we have more than a 1000 templates. I am hoping we don't have to start from scratch.

 

[Joe]

We started Prinergy with version 5.0 We have always just used the Prinergy disk backup. We have two Windows 2003 servers with 8 TB RAID 5 arrays. We use one for job storage and the other for Prinergy Backups.

Yes, Preps 6 can use your existing templates.

 

[hansman]

We also have the Dell PowerEdge 2900(2nd generation) as a Primary server.

We would also have to upgrade to a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and increase the ram. Kodak is trying to steer us to a more modern/upgraded server that would handle Prinergy 6. Kodak told us we probably could remain with the PowerEdge Server for Prinergy 6 if it were a 3rd generation model.

My question to you Joe is: What were you using for storage and back-up before you upgraded to Prinergy 5.2.x? We are using a Qualstar 8211 with LTO Data Cartridge's. Were you using the LTO Data Cartridge's? If so, what are you currently using for storage and backup since the newer Windows Server 2008 doesn't recognize the Data Cartridges? What did you do with your previous Archived jobs?

I have heard plenty about Preps 6. I know people are not happy with it.
I do have a question with Preps 6.....Will Preps 6 see templates that were created in previous versions of Preps? We currently have Prep 5.3.3 and we have more than a 1000 templates. I am hoping we don't have to start from scratch.

The problem with upgrading to Prinergy 5.2..... is you have to upgrade to Preps 6. This is a serious upgrade so if you have a stable of version 5.3 users to retrain you better plan on some down time as well as training Kodak style $$$$$$. I am sure the people who use Preps 6 will have some disagreement here. That being said IMHO they can take Preps 6 and stick it where the sun does not shine. Its that bad.

 

[Joe]

You can still use Preps 5.x with Prinergy 5.2. We actually are still using Preps 5 more than Preps 6 but I do use both.

 

[hansman]

You can still use Preps 5.x with Prinergy 5.2. We actually are still using Preps 5 more than Preps 6 but I do use both.

Are you launching preps within Prinergy?
I was told that you will lose the interactive launch feature if we upgraded. Sure you can still use it as a stand alone version of preps and then import imposition. However the launch feature within Prinergy is gone correct? This takes away a host of features that allows you to correct a layout on on the fly etc.

 

[Joe]

You can still launch Preps 5 from within Prinergy and use it exactly as before. You just have to set it up in the imposition setup within workshop. You can have it list both Preps 5.x and Prinergy 6.x in the imposition setup and then pick the version you want it to launch when you go to create/edit an imposition. You just want to make sure and copy the Preps 5 folder on your Mac to another folder named Preps 5 because the default Preps folder will be overwritten with Preps 6 when you install workshop.

 

[hansman]

You can still launch Preps 5 from within Prinergy and use it exactly as before. You just have to set it up in the imposition setup within workshop. You can have it list both Preps 5.x and Prinergy 6.x in the imposition setup and then pick the version you want it to launch when you go to create/edit an imposition. You just want to make sure and copy the Preps 5 folder on your Mac to another folder named Preps 5 because the default Preps folder will be overwritten with Preps 6 when you install workshop.

hmm..... Interesting, I was told by Kodak that if we upgraded past 5.1.2.xxx we would need to use Preps 6 as Preps 5.3 would not work within Prinergy. This was a few months ago and they may have changed the requirements. Also, I notice you are using OS 10.7.4 that surely is not supported with Preps 5.3 correct?

 

[Joe]

We still have a couple of Macs running OS X 10.6.8 that can still use Preps 5.x but yes, that is correct, Preps 5.x will not run on OS 10.7.x so we use Preps 6 on those computers.