XMPie Integration With EFI Digital StoreFront

[Ed Wong]

My company is purchasing EFI Digital StoreFront because we have EFI PACE for MIS and the two platforms talk to each other without 3rd party integration.

I want to stick with XMPIe for all my variable templates and I'm not that interested in learning Direct Smile which is Windows only. But if I have to, no big deal.

I've been told by EFI rep's that the XMPie module for EFI Digital StoreFront does NOT support 2D bar codes.

So my question is: Are there any missing features in the XMPie module for EFI Digital StoreFront compared to my current uStore 8 and uCreate Print 6.6.4?

Thank you for your time,

Ed Wong

[markb]

Hi Ed, you and I are in similar situations. I am working on uStore to Pace integration with a couple different vendors via API. We are also planning to have DSF + XMPie mini server module (long story as to why). Have you asked if there is a difference regarding EFI cloud version vs on premise? I have been leaning towards on-premise DSF / XMPie to have access to file server / DB, etc. Also, I have asked the question to our EFI rep / DSF product manager as if there are possibilities to not deploy XMPie mini server, but to integrate with our full XMPie server. They do not want to go there, but have entertained the question as we are still in pre-sales. From my understanding, the XMPie mini server has limitations vs full XMPie server mostly around uPlan / qlingo calls, but that's the extent that have investigated so far. As for Direct Smile, we tested this and it seemed like a step backwards compared to XMPie.

[Mark Kuehn]

Out of curiosity, what is an XMPie mini server? Is that the version that can only use XLIM and not full InDesign functionality?

-Mark

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[markb]

That's just what EFI sort of calls the XMPie VDP module for DSF- it's a version of XMPie that's doesn't have all the same features as the full XMPie server from XMPie. It has Indesign server, but it's dumbed down most likely due to how DSF integrates with it.

[Ed Wong]

Hi all,

Sorry I have not responded earlier but I did not get any response emails notifying me that someone responded to this question.

To make this even more convoluted, I was at Graph Expo in Chicago and none of the reps could answer my question. I sent the same question to the EFI Support Portal any no answer yet. Why does everything have to be so hard?

I've spent more than 5 years learning XMPie and from what I've seen of Direct Smile VDP for EFI Digital StoreFront, it would be a set backwards.

If only I could get a definitive answer about the 2D Bar Code support. If the XMPie integration for EFI Digital StoreFront supports these I'd be done and I would suggest purchasing this module. Until then it's still up for grabs.

Thank you for your time,

Ed Wong

[markb]

Ed- If I remember correctly, Randy Willey at EFI was the technical expert who was brought in during web meetings to answer our questions around DSF and the XMPie single record VDP module. I don't know Randy outside of the one or two meetings we had. Perhaps ask your EFI rep if this is an expert at EFI who can answer this question. I know you are not looking for 3rd party uStore / Pace integration, but I will keep you posted with our project, we are close to making some vendor decisions.

[Anthony Edwards]

I'm with a company called Fraysen Systems that offers software that can bridge XMPie uStore and EFI Pace (and other MIS systems).  Check out www.fraysen.com.  The solution product is called OrderPlus.  The base solution connects web-to-print orders to MIS sysetms.  It already does Pageflex Storefront to EFI Pace.  The XMPie-to-PrintSmith version is expected out early January.  Our product could be quickly adjusted to provide XMPie-to-Pace, too, if there's a need for it.  Let me know if you're interested.

[er...@morrellprinting.com]

Anthony - is your XMPie to PrintSmith solution available now?

[Anthony Edwards]

Thanks for asking.

After I posted that note, our development was delayed, so the XMPie uStore to Printsmith Vision integration is not quite complete yet.  (We're looking forward to showing a demo of it later this week to a customer.)

I should note that we were originally thinking about selling our solution as software that you install on site at your business, but since the SaaS model (with a subscription like uStore) is increasingly preferred by customers, we will likely take the time to productize it in that form.

I've noted your interest in this service.  If others are interested, too, please let me know.  I'll keep you informed of progress and availability!  (We're also looking forward to integrating uStore to other products such as Pace, Monarch, Avantis, Optimus and more... it's just a matter of priority!  Our current customer engagements set our priorities.)

   - Anthony