Prinergy is dead: They are laying off the dev team

[dj]

Just got a phone from a source today, they are shutting down Prinergy development

Prinergy is Dead | Prepress Pilgrim

 

[fiatlux]

Just got a phone from a source today, they are shutting down Prinergy development. Prinergy is Dead

I find it very hard to believe that Prinergy is dead since workflow is the backbone of their enterprise. I can understand Kodak shutting down the Vancouver offices and perhaps off-shoring ongoing maintenance and development of Prinergy as they've done with some of the other Vancouver product teams.

This is speculation, but it is always possible that they could be working on a true unified workflow solution from the ground up to replace Prinergy. That could be done with a strong, small, Rochester product management team with development done somewhere else - perhaps in Asia or even in Israel.

It will, as you put it, most likely be a mess.

FL

 

[fiatlux]

Update:

The word from the cubicle says that they'll keep the marketing team, perhaps an applications team and maybe even a small custom workflow development team going. At least for the short term. The move to Israel, as DJ reported, is apparently intended to compliment Kodak's digital print focus.

There's not much left of what Kodak bought for a billion just a few years ago to get their business into the digital graphic arts.

Hopefully Kodak will quickly clarify what their plans are.

FL

 

[srawding]

Just got a phone from a source today, they are shutting down Prinergy development

Prinergy is Dead | Prepress Pilgrim

I was going to upgrade EVO to Prinergy.
So.... Where do I go from here? I need something!

 

[hansman]

????????
I doubt they are going to let thousand's of users out there sink

 

[dj]

Follow up: They whacked all the guys in Victoria, BC too. Say goodbye to Insite.

No official press release as of yet.

Times have changed. When end-of-life was announced for Impact workflow, the VLF customers screamed blue bloody murder for months on end. And this isn't end of life, this is out-and-out termination with "future development" to be done by a team in Israel whose mandate is to focus on digital print.

Rotsa ruck guys you guys still doin' CTP. You're going to need it.

 

[mattbeals]

Looks like Paltiel will have a "new" project to work on. That is of course assuming he's still there...

I'm wondering if this decision is going to go down in history (of printing) as one colossal goat-"shmuck". Now that my second favorite workflow is dead/dying, who's going to step up to the plate and be the leader?

Which brings up an important quetsion.
What is the "health" of Prinect and Apogee? The last of the "integrated" workflows. RAMPage has a small but devoted audience. Xitron is in the same boat as is Screen and Fuji (XMF?). Who's left in the major, and I do mean "major" players? Or are we getting to the point where the "integrated workflows" are too big and cumbersome offering a marginal amount of automation? Which is the market for Enfocus SWITCH to create a truly integrated workflow like I have been saying for *years*.

 

[jonbracken]

Prinergy is alive and well and fully supported by Kodak.

Prinergy is alive and well and fully supported by Kodak.

To set the record straight: Prinergy is alive and well and fully supported by Kodak.

In fact, the company's commitment to KODAK PRINERGY Workflow Systems and to its entire Unified Workflow portfolio has never been stronger. We are committed to the success of our customers and to the continued successful development of our world-class Unified Workflow products and services, including Prinergy, Insite, Preps, ColorFlow, NewsManager, PowerPack and Color Servers.

So what's new? We have announced to employees that we will consolidate global product development for Unified Workflow at our site in Israel, and we will focus our customer technical support and marketing operations at our Vancouver site. We will maintain a world-class, innovative engineering team built around skilled developers, and efficient, effective processes that can drive forward our investment in PRINERGY Workflow and the full Unified Workflow portfolio. Kodak will be better positioned to generate long-term growth for our customers and for Kodak while maximizing our industry leading technology platforms.

This was a very difficult decision because it involves employment reductions. The decision was difficult and not in any way based on the performance of our employees in Vancouver, which has been excellent. It was simply based on an analysis of a number of factors, as well as synergies and support infrastructure at the respective sites, in concert with the anticipated future direction of the business. While this does involve reductions, please know that we will have substantial remaining operations in B.C., with more than 500 employees located here.

As you may know, earlier this year, Kodak formed a new business entity, called the Business Solutions and Services Group, to better deliver solutions in our digital world. The strategy behind the group is to enable customers to do more, increase efficiency and grow their businesses – print and enterprise – through offering integrated solutions, consultation and implementation services, enterprise marketing asset management and security, print workflow software, document capture software and hardware and overall service and support.

Our Unified Workflow strategy ensures that Kodak continues to support the traditional print space by delivering automation and integration for customers. We’re also accelerating developments in digital print workflows for hybrid and digital printing at the same time that we develop a new solution business in integration services, custom development and business transformation.

So that's the news about what has changed. I can assure, as I said at the outset, that one very important fact has not changed: Prinergy is alive and well and fully supported by Kodak.

 

[hansman]

Thanks for setting the record
IMHO Prinergy is the industry standard as far as workflows.....
I have seen these things go down before
Stripping > Scitex Prisma > Brisque > Prinergy > ?

Whats next?
Printing straight to the devices from your Iphone?

 

[dj]

Unverified report:

Shutting down Burnaby development in TWO WEEKS!

Will try to confirm. Until then, maybe you guys should hold your applause at Kodak's brilliant move to unify their workflow in one geographical location.

 

[Pickle7]

I believe that Kodak would really shut it all down. When they bought Creo they killed a lot of Scitex/Creo products right out of the gate. Also their services and respect to the customer went to the bottom of the barrel. Since they treated us so bad with support/services (NO SUPPORT/POOR SUPPORT) we will never use them again. And we are a 45M plus a year printer that keeps growing and expanding our services even in a lagging economy.

But thats just one companies 2 cents worth

 

[J]

[SNIP]We have announced to employees that we will consolidate global product development for Unified Workflow at our site in Israel, and we will focus our customer technical support and marketing operations at our Vancouver site. [SNIP]
This was a very difficult decision because it involves employment reductions. The decision was difficult and not in any way based on the performance of our employees in Vancouver, which has been excellent. It was simply based on an analysis of a number of factors, as well as synergies and support infrastructure at the respective sites, in concert with the anticipated future direction of the business.

What BS.
Companies say that the employees are their main asset - but at the end of the day cheaper labour - i.e. Israeli, or Chinese (where my understanding is that some of the Prinergy development will now take place), or whomever - is the determining factor. Excellence of performance by the Vancouver (and Victoria) employees, as you characterize their contribution, did not save anyone their jobs. Performance means nothing. Why not just say so. The Israelis are cheaper than Canadian employees, and if you can find cheaper labour elsewhere then that's where you'll go next and the Israelis will be out of work next.
When the going gets tough, it seems that the Kodak response is to trim budgets, get conservative, and efficiently track the shrinking revenue while laying people off, likely right into bankruptcy.

J

 

[dj]

2 week layoff notice for everybody not true...

2 week layoff notice for everybody not true...

there will be two rounds of layoffs. One at the end of November, and one at the end of January. A team from Israel will be arriving next week for two weeks of knowledge transfer. That was the origin of the rumour.

more details posted on the blog Prinergy is Dead | Prepress Pilgrim

 

[BillJ]

2 weeks to learn years of knowledge? Sounds about right.

 

[Mark]

????????
I doubt they are going to let thousand's of users out there sink

Gee I seem to remember a workflow called Brisque that got similar treatment from Kodak.

 

[hansman]

Gee I seem to remember a workflow called Brisque that got similar treatment from Kodak.

Good point........
I went through that.
We switched over to Rampage at the time.
Then Prinergy came out >
People should just breathe deep
You know something else will replace Prinergy
I am still missing my Scitex Prisma from 1991!

 

[Mark]

Good point........
I am still missing my Scitex Prisma from 1991!

We still have ours in a back room! And it works!

 

[sarwar amin]

if prinergy is dead then where we will go? kodak's support for prinergy was poor. they should manage it more professionally...

 

[fiatlux]

Apparently Prinergy/InSite software development goes to China where, among other things, CtP is manufactured and colour software written. Software testing will go to Israel.

I imagine will be quite a logistics issue for the offices in N.A. to manage across such vastly varied time zones. Especially with Israel where, if I'm not mistaken, not only is there a significant time zone difference, but a weekend difference as well (Friday Saturday rather than Saturday Sunday), and more religious holidays to boot.

FL

 

[sarwar amin]

If software testing goes to Israel then muslim countries will not be able to communicate. This will be a wrong idea for Kodak. Rather they can transfer it to India becoz India is now very developed in software development.... and their overall cost will be cheaper. Support may be faster...