Celebrating 25 years of ColorGATE

25 years of ColorGATE. That would not have been possible without a great team, long-term partners and loyal customers. 

THANK YOU!

We invite all of you to celebrate our anniversay in October 2022. We will look back at the companies' history, discover the ColorGATE's teams and hear partners and customers sharing their experiences. 

Thomas Kirschner, our Co-Founder and CEO, shares his memories & ideas in this video, from the first steps with ColorGATE, the most interesting innnovations, personal and professional challenges and some nice stories from the last 25 years. Check it out!

Discover 25 years of ColorGATE

1997

ColorGATE was founded on October 07th 1997.
Having in mind new inventions in LFP printing, the founders wanted to develop the first ICC-based RIP solution for the European market.

1998

We did not wait too long to release our first RIP software. ...printing into the next millenium - and the first customers did exactly that! With 25 supported devices and PS/EPS processing via JAWS, our fist software was released.

1999

Being on the cutting edge of technology means constantly updating your software. 1999 version 2 was released - with a design we still are quite proud of! With version 2, ColorGATE delivered the RIP solution for the first high-resolution solvent LFP printers, including ICC profiles and MIM packages.

2002

In 2002 ColorGATE came up with two new products: Proofgate, our proofing solution that is still quite successful, and FotoZoomer, a system for direct photo and poster printing (you may know these from todays drugstores, where you can immediately print out your photos. We may have been a bit ahead of our times back then ... ;) )

2003

In 2003, ColorGATE was the first software provider with a fully ISO/Fogra-compliant proofing solution, Proofgate, including media wedge, integrated evaluation and report function

2004

At FESPA 2004 in Madrid and DRUPA we presented a range of products:

  • Productionserver
  • Photogate 
  • Screen & Sign (that will later be renamed to Filmgate)

We provided to first LFP RIP solution with a JDF compliant interface. Now our customers were able to connect our software with upstream systems like MIS, ERP, etc.!

Productionserver was born! The fourth version of our software was the first to be called Productionserver. A name we are still using today. Included were the Profiler Module and the Print and Cut Module. Also, Filmgate was released. 

2007

To our 10th anniversary we left our old head quartes in Goettinger Chaussee and moved to our current office. 

Productionserver 5 was released, now supporting more than 400 devices.. This version later received the edp award for "BEST RIP SOLUTION FOR WIDE FORMAT OF THE YEAR 2009"

2009

With Productionserver 6 we developed a brand new technology to help our customer lowering their ink costs: with InkSaver you can save up to 30% of ink costs - without a visible loss of quality!

2010

At ColorGATE we combine a lot of industrie know how with inkjet and color management expertise. Six of our team members were certified as Fogra Digital Print Experts this year. Also, we developed a new way of maintenance & support: our Value Packs. With plannable costs we offer various services to support our customers.

2011

Productionserver 7 brought a lot of new technologies: 

  • We started using APPE (instead of JAWS)
  • Productionserver now supported 800 devices
  • Some new modules were released, including Gamut Viewer and Color Atlas
  • Productionserver 7 was certified with G7 compliancy
  • Our portfolio included five other solutions: Proofgate and Filmgate, Plategate, Photogate and YouFrame

2012

In 2012 we released the first web-to-print solution: Webgate. Our technical experts were now also certified as Fogra Process Standard Digital Experts!

2013

Version 8 was released 2013 - including, among others, the Media and Light Profiler and Trim Nesting. With this version we supported more than 1,000 different devices.

 

2014

2014 was our first year at Inprint (also the year, Inprint started) and thus the beginning of our journey in industrial printing. Productionserver 9, which was released that very year, not yet included industrial printing solutions, but other highly useful extensions like Access Control Module, Target Generator and a new system backup function.

2015

Our first complete solution for industrial printing was targeting the ceramics industry. With Rapid Spectro Cube we invented a new kind of measuring device enabling you to create high-quality color profile from uneven subtrates - like tiles. 

2016

In 2016 we released our new range of dedicated Productionserver versions targetting the segments Ceramic, Décor, Packaging and Textile. Together with the Productionserver for LFP and Graphic Arts, Filmgate and Proofgate, our software solution portfolio was complete.  

With version 10 we also developed some features, like the Job Backup Module, DFE Profiler Module our Out of Gamut Module. The most innovative, and patented, technology surely is the Fingerprint technology. With this module you can create a digital color twin, including all the information you need to reprint the same result even in different plants. 

2018

With a new web shop we started in the year 2018. Customers and partners where now able to shop our products 24/7 - with the online configurator, it's even possible to create and buy the right Productionserver version for you. This year we also became part of Ricoh Ltd. 

2020

Productionserver 20 was released with a completely reworked UI, a new licensing system, PantoneLIVE® support and our new modules: REST API  and Color Correction Loop Module

Of course, from March 2020 on, we also had to start working from home - amongst many other COVID-19 restrictions. However, our team quickly found its way and was able to work almost as usual.

2021

Productionserver 21 supports almost 2000 devices, APPE 5.6 and comes with a whole new online help. In Summer 2021 we were able to celebrate this - and so much more - again in a huge company event!

That year the new version of our Rapid Spectro Cube, the RSC LED, was released. With new LED measurement this version is highly accurate, flexible and able to create profiles of various substrates very fast. 

2022

2.5D printing is one of the new topics in version 22. Also, Productionserver 22 supports DTF printing, has new MIM administration and many other new features (if you would like to see a summary, click here).