Christie’s Implements Group Logic MassTransit to Dramatically Improve Global Catalog Creation Process

World’s Leading Art Business Relies on MassTransit to Move More Than 350,000 Mission-Critical Files Annually

(Arlington, VA) – Group Logic, the leading provider of enterprise file transfer solutions, today announced that Christie’s, the world’s leading art business, is successfully using MassTransit to increase the reliability of file transfers and improve productivity throughout its entire catalog creation process. The only enterprise software solution proven to transform digital file transfers into strategic business processes, MassTransit is enabling Christie’s to transfer more than 350,000 digital files between internal users and vendors around the world every year.

“Christie’s catalogs are critical for showcasing our auction items, and we invest heavily to create the highest quality of product possible,” said Neil McCutcheon head of catalog production for Christie’s. “MassTransit is the only file transfer solution we could find to support this strategic objective, improving the way we manage our entire creation process – from photo receipt to pre-press, proofing and printing. We now have the confidence that all of our files will reach their destination and all of our partners and employees will meet our production deadlines.”

With global auction sales in 2006 that totaled £2.51 billion / $4.67 billion, Christie’s has 85 offices in 43 countries and 14 salerooms worldwide and prints more than 600 catalogs per year to support each of its auctions. To create each of these highly-customized catalogs Christie’s relies on MassTransit to move 80,000 print ready PDFs and more than a quarter of a million high-resolution images annually. With image sizes averaging 30 megabytes, MassTransit provides Christie’s with the superior scalability, reliability and performance required to support high volumes of extremely large file transfers on a daily basis.

By deploying MassTransit, Christie’s has eliminated time consuming and labor-intensive delivery methods such as CDs, DVDs and File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Unlike these inefficient approaches, MassTransit easily integrates into the company’s workflows and significantly reduces production times by ensuring that critical images are delivered quickly and reliably to dispersed locations around the globe.

“Prior to MassTransit, the process of moving files was as painful as you can possibly imagine,” added McCutcheon. “Now with MassTransit, Christie’s finally has an enterprise solution that is consistent, easy to use and speeds the file delivery process, giving us the productivity gains we required to support our global pre-press vendors and printers.”

Further simplifying Christie’s catalogue creation process, Group Logic partners, Turning Point Innovation and IO Integration, sold, implemented and integrated MassTransit with a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system through a customized Web interface. Christie’s photographers worldwide can now use MassTransit to easily upload photos into the DAM system and add critical meta-data for identifying images and their intended use. This ability to tag photos with meta-data at the time of upload provides major benefits. This unique, MassTransit Web Client-based process ensures that 100% of photos have meta-data and allows immediate, fully automated processing of inbound images as they are ingested into Christie’s DAM system. Not only to does this eliminate manual work and increase productivity and quality, but it also increases the value of the DAM system by providing ready-to-use images in multiple print-ready formats allowing broader, faster leverage of the assets by Christies’ users.

“MassTransit has a proven track record of delivering strategic value by helping customers create optimized, global file transfer business processes,” stated Andy Lewis, Senior Vice President of Sales, Group Logic. “By providing Christie’s with an easy, reliable, fast method of transferring large volumes of files globally, and by offering tight integration with other workflows, MassTransit opened up valuable business options previously unavailable to Christie’s. We are very proud to be a part of Christie’s successful strategic initiative to transform its global catalog product process.”

About Christie’s
Christie’s is the world’s leading art business with global auction sales in 2006 that totaled £2.51 billion / $4.67 billion. Worldwide sales for the first half of 2007 totaled £1.63 billion / $3.25 billion, an increase of 32% by £ and 45% by $ from the same period last year and highest half year sales ever in art market history.

Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie’s conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers over 600 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine and more. Prices range from $200 to over $80 million.

Christie’s has 85 offices in 43 countries and 14 salerooms around the world including London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Hong Kong. Most recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging markets such as China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Dubai, Mumbai and Russia.


Contacts:

Kate Bland
Director of Marketing
Group Logic, Inc.
703.527.7979
katebland@grouplogic.com





About Group Logic

Group Logic, Inc., develops wide area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN) workflow solutions that increase speed and create efficiencies for file transfers, file and print services, and remote proofing procedures. The company’s solutions include internationally renowned products, customization and integration services, and in-depth product training to maximize return on investment.

Group Logic offers two complementary product lines:

* MassTransit: Enterprise software solution proven to transform digital file transfers into strategic business processes. MassTransit increases productivity and empowers users to manage all aspects of the file transfer process by simplifying the exchange of digital files, ensuring accountability and providing visibility into the entire process.
* ExtremeZ-IP Product Line: Mac OS X compatible File Server and Stand-Alone Print Server products that use TCP/IP protocol to dramatically improve stability between Macintosh clients and Microsoft Windows 2003/2000/NT servers. Print Accounting Add-On software increases control over enterprise-wide printing, through accounting and job tracking functionality.

Group Logic’s products are installed in over 1,000 organizations worldwide, including leading publishers, creative services and packaging operations of major corporations, printing and prepress service providers, advertising and design agencies, government and educational institutions. Approximately 40,000 professionals in the print media and related industries use Group Logic’s products.

For more information, visit Group Logic on the web at www.grouplogic.com. Group Logic can also be reached at 800.476.8781 / 703.528.1555.