About Y Soft

As a global pandemic radically changed the business landscape, Y Soft embraced an urgent application for our 3D print technology. In the Czech Republic and around the world, Y Soft employees created face shields for health care workers to use with or in place of scarce N95 masks. 

In mid-July, we announced our SAFEQ Cloud family of print management services and our commitment to a Cloud-first future. 

Next, in close collaboration with Microsoft, Y Soft announced YSoft OMNI Series — a new and cost-effective way to deliver simplified cloud printing to older printers already in use. 

Our 3D print solution for schools made a big leap forward this year as we expanded YSOFT BE3D Academy with many new teacher-tested lesson plans matched to STEAM curriculum goals. 

Finally, it was time to celebrate our 20th birthday as an innovative global technology company, a rowdy and joyous occasion for employees, partners and customers alike

Y Soft expanded its executive team to meet the company growth trajectory with Barry Löwer as Chief Sales Officer, Ondřej Župka in a newly created VP of Manufacturing role and Stephanie Kennard as EVP in North and Latin America. The company’s product portfolio grew with the addition of Embedded Terminal for Brother, a patent-pending new card reader, the USB Card Reader 3 MFX, and a new 3D curriculum resource, be3D Academy – an addition to the company’s be3D eDee 3D printing solution for education.

Y Soft also outlined its Cloud First strategy for new products & services development. The first outcome was announced in late 2019 as a beta program for partners to begin testing YSoft SAFEQEdge Core, an SMB solution that combines cloud-hosting with edge computing.

The company’s growth necessitated larger offices in the U.K. and China, the latter including a warehouse for Y Soft’s hardware portfolio to specifically serve the Chinese market. Y Soft Ventures, the company’s venture arm, announced a new fund and awarded its first recipient, NenoVision, followed shortly thereafter with VRgineers.

Václav Muchna was recognized as an ENX Difference Maker for 2019 and the company was a finalist in the prestigious Czech awards, Roku Firma 2019, in the Vodafone Regional Finalist Company of the Year in the South Moravian Region category. The company also announced its Corporate Social Responsibility program, a 4-prong approach designed for social good, transparency and a competitive business environment.

The reach of YSoft SAFEQ expanded with embedded versions for Epson and HP multifunction devices. IOTA Hardware Division was formally announced recognizing the growing demand for Y Soft hardware solutions.  2018 saw a marked increase in customer’s use of YSoft SAFEQ in the private cloud and  Y Soft was recognized by Quocirca as having innovative products/solutions that support secure, digital workflows in the mobile, cloud enabled future workplace.
 
YSoft Lab’s work in robotics for testing automation has proven that (wo)man and machine can work well alongside each other when the machine takes care of repetitive tasks letting employees focus on the more interesting aspects of work. The merger of Y Soft and be3D completed the necessary legal processes and 3D printer manufacturing is now performed in Y Soft’s expanded manufacturing facility in Brno.
 
Y Soft CEO, Vaclav Muchna, was honored to receive the Centennial Award from the U.S. Embassy in Prague for the development of Czech-American economic ties. Y Soft also formalized its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy affirming its commitment to think globally and act locally and chose to focus on activities that protect a transparent and competitive business environment.
 

A new R&D center in Ostrava, Czech Republic, was established in June and Y Soft China Ltd., a new subsidiary, opened in August in the Shanghai District Technology Development Center to support growth in China, the world’s second largest market.

In Brno, Czech Republic, Y Soft’s manufacturing, logistics and shipping staff moved their operations out of headquarter offices into a nearby, larger area in November. The new facility allows for larger volume capacity in manufacturing YSoft SAFEQ hardware in addition to prototyping and testing new designs for our R&D teams as they work on new innovations in YSoft Lab projects.

With the introduction of YSoft SAFEQ 6, our flagship enterprise print management solution becomes a platform. As a platform, it now includes document capture and 3D print management in addition to print management. YSoft SAFEQ is also integrated into YSoft be3D eDee, the first 3D solution that combines a 3D printer with a print management, workflow and an accounting system.

Y Soft becomes the first company to offer print management as a subscription service for all major multifunction devices. YSoft SAFEQ is expanded to support mobile devices such as Mac laptops and smartphones and tablets on the iOS and Android platforms. Y Soft also introduced SaaS pricing for its software and support services enabling use of YSoft SAFEQ on a pay as you go model.

A new version of YSoft SAFEQ 5 was released, complete with a range of new features and enhancements. We bought a majority stake in be3D, a company that develops and manufactures 3D printers, thereby expanding our portfolio to include 3D printing. We set up Y Soft Ventures, a venture capital fund designed to support innovative projects. Y Soft won the CzechInvest "Investor of the Year" award in the IT and Shared Services category for 2013.

We acquired Equitrac Systems of Australia and established an office in Dubai. We became the first company providing print management solutions with offices around the world and customer service in all time zones.

The updated YSoft SAFEQ 4 included a range of revolutionary features such as Print Roaming, Private Cloud and Mobile Printing. The Brno headquarters relocated to a new building with a stylish work environment fostering employee satisfaction and creativity.

We established an office in Miami, Florida to support the customers and partners in Central and South America. Y Soft invested significantly in the expansion of a quality assurance (QA) department for testing purposes.

We introduced the new YSoft SAFEQ Terminal UltraLight and YSoft SAFEQ Terminal Professional with a full-color display. Václav Muchna received the "Technology Entrepreneur of the Year" award for the Czech Republic and "Entrepreneur of the Year" for the South Moravian region.

We introduced the new YSoft SAFEQ Terminal UltraLight and YSoft SAFEQ Terminal Professional with a full-color display.

We developed a USB card reader designed to facilitate card authentication on integrated terminals. Y Soft established new offices in Japan and Israel. The acquisition of XpertImage resulted in the establishment of a key office for the US market in the Dallas, Texas area.

We launched the remote server (RS), a predecessor of the offline remote spooler (ORS), in order to provide large corporations and institutions with offices around the world an efficient system for the transmission of print tasks and centralized print management and reporting services.

Thanks to the enormous success of the YSoft SAFEQ Terminal Professional, we were able to buy a production line. In addition, to further improve our terminal hardware, we developed the first integrated terminal for multifunction printers. Ernst & Young presented Václav Muchna with the "Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year" award.

SmartQ was renamed YSoft SAFEQ. We introduced a revolutionary hardware terminal, the YSoft SafeQ Terminal Professional, with a large touch screen and integrated proximity card reader.

We introduced SmartQ, software designed to control the printing and copying process and also the predecessor of YSoft SAFEQ. SmartQ enabled secure printing through a server, copying based on SNMP communication with the printer, blocking printing functions and charging for printing services. Y Soft was the first company in the world to introduce this precise charging system.

Y Soft was founded in 2000 as part of a student project at Masaryk University in Brno. After several failed projects, the new company managed to secure a key order. We developed the first application enabling the authentication of printer users using a card reader – the predecessor of the current Print Roaming module. We found our market niche, thereby focusing our entire development process on the control of access to printed documents using identification cards and readers.