Heidelberg has acquired German MIS developer Crispy Mountain as part of its ongoing digital business expansion. The acquisition is part of the press manufacturer’s plan to develop its cloud-based ‘HEI.OS’ software platform.
Crispy Mountain is the developer of the cloud-based management platform Keyline and Heidelberg is now looking to work with the Mainz-based business to expand the HEI.OS platform.
The platform is to be open to other manufacturers in the printing industry, and will include supporting an App Store similar to what HP has done with its PrintOS scheme. This is intended to give print shops easier access to comprehensive services with a low administrative burden. Third-party suppliers will also be able to create tailor-made offers for printing companies via the platform.
‘For Heidelberg, the acquisition of Crispy Mountain is a further step in the rapid expansion of cloud based digital applications that are billed on a usage basis,’ said Ulrich Hermann, chief digital officer at Heidelberg. ‘With Crispy Mountain’s qualified team and innovative solutions, we are accelerating our developments around our new industry platform HEI.OS.’
Keyline is a management information system designed exclusively for operation in the cloud and for further development towards such software ‘ecosystems’. It was introduced to the UK in April 2018 by reseller and integrator Cloud to Print. The application is now to be expanded with functionality for the commercial, labels and packaging sectors. Heidelberg is also gradually converting the sale of individual perpetual software licenses to a usage-oriented subscription offering. The various modules of the company’s Prinect workflow will be available via a subscription/software as a service model, though roll-out varies by country; UK availability is anticipated later in 2019.
