IBM's Advanced Function Presentation

The Industry Standard

Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) is a collection of hardware, software, and resources functioning together to produce quality high-volume output - enhanced with typographical fonts, graphic images, logos, and signatures - to a vast array of distribution options.

Developed by IBM to improve the quality of non-impact printing to paper, AFP's openness, products, and functions have evolved with the industry to include all distribution destinations with quality, precision, speed, and cost effectiveness. This device independent architecture allows a job to be routed to a variety of output devices: printers, archives, displays, and more.

Highlights

Converting preprinted forms into electronic forms can help reduce printing costs associated with ordering, storage, management and obsolescence of preprinted forms.

Electronic forms, called Overlays, support printing to cut sheet and continuous-form Intelligent Printer Data Stream™ (IPDS™) printers driven by Print Services Facility™ (PSF) or Infoprint® Manager software on OS/390®, z/OS®, VM, VSE, OS/400®, AIX® and Windows® systems.

Overlays can be stored on the system driving the IPDS printers, or overlays can be included inline with print jobs to provide reliable print consistency when printing across system platforms.