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Advanced Function Printing (AFP)AFP is the architecture that IBM built to manage the electronic print and presentation process. According to IBM, AFP is :
What's advanced about Advanced Function Printing? The hardware and software architecture is integrated among applications, operating systems, and printers. AFP is integrated into AS/400-- built into each release with printer file and DDS document management, plus print management via PSF/400. Error recovery is built in to the IPDS data stream. It's bidirectional-- so that software and the printer can have conversations. An IPDS printer knows when it has an error-- like a paper jam-- and the printer can tell AFP-enabled software about it. The software can then take appropriate action: notify the sender, re-route the print job, etc. External document formatting is built in to the AFP data stream. The formatting of a document can be independent of the application that produces it, and the printer that prints it. This means you can get better-looking print output without changing the application that produces the print data. AFP products embrace industry standards. For example, compressed images use standard ITU-TSS T.6 Group 4 decompression. PSF/400 sends standard data streams and PDL's -- SCS, PostScript, IPDS, line data, and AFP print files, plus GIF and BMP images -- across TCP/IP networks to IPDS printers. Or, AFP documents can be converted and sent to ASCII printers.
DCA Consulting can assist you with all your AFP needs. We maintain expertise on AFP. In fact, we have consultants who specialize in AFP. Call us for assistance (800) 553-6764.
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