For the makers of digital halftone proofers, this is where the rubber meets the road. As Deroo explains, "With digital halftone technology, you don't need color management expertise because it's built into the proofer and into the pigmented ink sheets. It doesn't move."
Willer takes a slightly different tack: "Kodak has stressed for a long time that you don't need color management, but we're extending that functionality now, based on our recognition that presses, substrates, and inks exhibit subtle differences most easily accommodated through color management. What our Approval system alone does, is to create a real spot color from within the Approval itself, using color 'donors' that can be mixed inside the machine to create the exact colors needed. This enables Approval to reproduce spot colors with exactly the fine lines and text for which color-managed inkjet uses dithering, as well as true overprints and vignettes. We take the guesswork and risk out of fine line and fine text and detail work with non-traditional inks (important in labels, for example). There's no way you can do this in an inkjet machine."