Products: Beehive ftp forms

NEW YORK, NY, March 17, 1998 - Pine Island Software released Beehive ftp forms v2.0. Beehive ftp forms has merged the html forms standard with drag and drop ftp (Internet File transfer Protocol) to create a workflow suite suitable for handling repetitive forms and file transfers such as those found in the prepress industry. With this release, Pine Island has also resolved the long standing security problems with ftp by implementing a "secure key" system that encrypts the ftp site, path and access information so that multiple senders may send to the same site without security risk.

According to Mark Bennett, President, Pine Island Software, "Beehive ftp forms has been designed from the ground up to accommodate Internet forms and file transactions; it has an architecture that permits printers to use the access servers and ftp servers of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) instead of having to invest in expensive in-house resources."

The Beehive ftp forms system uses the "Simple as 1-2-3" workflow on both Mac and Windows platforms:

1. Drag files or folders onto the Beehive icon,
2. Fill out the html form that pops open, and
3. Click "send" to start transferring the files to the remote ftp server.

To further support Internet workflow, Pine Island has developed an ftp post-processing application called Beehive ftp manager. If a printer is using a remote ISP to house the ftp server, the Beehive ftp manager can automatically poll the remote ftp server, move the received files to the appropriate work queues, print the form as a notification, and perform all of the decoding and administrative tasks. The Beehive ftp manager also generates the secure keys and can call external applescripts to accomplish other post-processing tasks.

Beehive ftp forms has been bench tested against other traditional ftp clients for basic file transfer speed. It was found to be faster than both Fetch and Anarchie, especially in higher bandwidth transfers over ISDN, T1 and Ethernet. When the file transfer speed advantages are coupled with the interface efficiencies, Beehive becomes the clear choice for busy prepress workplaces.

The Beehive ftp forms application costs $39.95 per user for either Mac or Windows platforms. A 10 user license bundled with both Mac and Windows clients and the Beehive ftp manager for Mac, retails for $295. A 25 user version is $595.