Presstek and EFI Enter Strategic Alliance
September 07 2005 - 3:17PM
PR Newswire (US)
-- Presstek Facet RIP Powered by EFI Fiery Uniquely Suited to Needs
of Small Commercial Printers -- HUDSON, N.H., Sept. 7
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Presstek, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRST), a leading
manufacturer and marketer of environmentally responsible high tech
digital imaging solutions for the graphic arts and laser imaging
markets, and EFI (NASDAQ:EFII), the world leader in digital imaging
and print management solutions for commercial and enterprise
printing, today announced a strategic alliance to develop a range
of products for the small commercial print market. The companies
are collaborating to develop a set of enterprise solutions scaled
for smaller quick, commercial and in-plant shops, and the franchise
print market. The first product in the extended suite, the Presstek
Facet RIP, will be launched at Print 05, North America's largest
printing trade show being held at McCormick Place, Chicago,
September 9th through 15th, 2005. "We are very pleased to be
partnering with an industry-leader like EFI," said Bill Davison,
Presstek's Vice President of Corporate Business Development. "The
most successful printers have adopted digital technologies and
learned how to use them to reduce costs and increase new market
opportunities. Yet, until now it has been a challenge to provide
truly cost- effective and powerful solutions. This announcement
reinforces our commitment to high-performance, affordable digital
workflow and business solutions for the small printer." The
Presstek Facet RIP is an affordable, high-performance, digital
front- end that has been developed for operation with all Presstek-
and ABDick- branded digital output devices, including DI presses
and Dimension, Vector TX52, and DPM platesetters. The Facet RIP is
sold and supported exclusively by Presstek and is the initial
product in a portfolio of digital solutions for small print
enterprises. It provides the core foundation for adding advanced
workflow modules and business management solutions to the
operations of small commercial printers. Goodcopy Printing &
Digital Graphics in New Haven, CT was one of the first users of
Presstek's Facet RIP. David Miller, Goodcopy's prepress manager
comments, "We were familiar with the EFI Fiery interface from using
the Fiery on our Doc 12. It only seemed natural to implement the
Facet RIP once we installed the Presstek Dimension Excel CTP
system. The transition was easy, we were up and running quickly
with very little training." Miller adds, "The speed, proofing
ability, and robustness of the Facet has made us more productive."
The Presstek Facet RIP builds on EFI's heritage of providing
market- leading imaging and print management solutions. With over
1.2 million Fierys installed worldwide and controlled by EFI's
award-winning Command WorkStation interface, the Presstek Facet RIP
takes advantage of EFI's unmatched technology, market reputation
and ease-of-use. Based on EFI's Adobe CPSI Fiery G210 RIP, the
Presstek Facet RIP will be commercially available in the fourth
quarter of 2005, and can be configured with a wide range of
capabilities, including: * Automatic in-RIP trapping * The ability
to quickly and easily re-map spot colors from the desktop without
returning to the native application * Advanced proofing and
ICC-based color management functionality based on Best Technology *
ImageViewer local and remote soft-proofing and color editing
capabilities, including real-time pixel-level zoom of a rasterized
job before it is committed to the print device * Drag-and-drop hot
folders for automation of repetitive tasks * Easy integration with
EFI Print MIS solutions, including PrintSmith. Printers can manage
their entire digital workflow from the Fiery-based Presstek Facet
RIP. Since Facet is built on Fiery technology, it is controlled via
the Command WorkStation interface. This is the same familiar
interface used by millions of Fiery RIPS around the world. The
Fiery Command Workstation, operated from a Mac or PC platform,
offers the ability to view and control multiple Fiery based RIPS,
including Facet, from remote locations. This allows a customer to
move a job from one device to another right from Command
WorkStation. Now, with the click of a mouse, a customer can output
10 copies on their digital toner device and 5,000 copies from their
DI press without ever going back to their prepress computers.
Command Workstation also offers Sort, Search and Archive capability
for increased operational flexibility. The Sort function allows
jobs to be organized by name, date or print status. The Search
function enables operators to quickly locate jobs that were
previously printed. And Archive offers the ability to easily save
pre-RIPped files to another server or disk for easy retrieval and
reprinting as well as for distribute-and-print applications. "We
are excited with our expanding relationship with Presstek," said
Fred Rosenzweig, EFI's President. "Together, we will be able to
more effectively serve the small commercial print market by
channeling EFI's unsurpassed development power and market
leadership into specific products aligned with Presstek's
innovative DI and CTP offerings as well as with other specific
needs of this growing market segment." "EFI's industry-leading
products are already in an estimated 85% of Presstek's over 18,000
customers," added Davison, "Through this alliance with EFI,
Presstek will be able to provide a range of powerful new products
that link seamlessly with their current tools and increase
customers' productivity and profitability." About Presstek
Presstek, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and marketer of
environmentally responsible, high-tech, digital imaging solutions
to the graphic arts and laser imaging markets. Presstek's patented
DI(R), CTP and plate products provide a streamlined workflow in a
chemistry-free environment, thereby reducing printing cycle time
and lowering production costs. Presstek solutions are designed to
make it easier for printers to cost effectively meet increasing
customer demand for high-quality, shorter print runs and faster
turnaround while providing improved profit margins. Presstek
subsidiary Precision Lithograining Corporation is a manufacturer of
high quality digital and conventional printing plate products,
including Presstek's award-winning, chemistry-free Anthem plate.
Presstek subsidiary Lasertel, Inc., manufactures semiconductor
laser diodes for Presstek's and external customers' applications.
ABDick markets graphic arts and printing equipment and supplies for
all stages of document creation -- pre-press, press and post-press
-- and provides continuing service and support. For more
information on Presstek, visit http://www.presstek.com/, call 603-
595-7000 or email: . About EFI EFI (http://www.efi.com/) is the
world leader in digital imaging and print management solutions for
commercial and enterprise printing. EFI's award- winning
technologies offer document management tools from creation to
print, including high fidelity color and black and white Fiery(R)
print servers that can output up to 2000 ppm; powerful production
workflow and print management information software solutions for
increased performance and cost efficiency; and an array of
business-critical enterprise and mobile printing solutions. EFI
maintains 22 offices worldwide. "Safe Harbor" Statement under the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain
statements contained in this News Release constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements
regarding the expected benefits of Presstek's relationship with
EFI, the market's acceptance of and demand for Presstek's existing
and newly introduced products, and the strength of Presstek various
strategic partnerships (both on manufacturing and distribution),
including the strategic alliance with EFI. Such forward-looking
statements involve a number of known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of Presstek to be materially different
from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the strength of
Presstek's various strategic partnerships (both on manufacturing
and distribution), Presstek's dependency on its strategic partners,
market acceptance of and demand for Presstek's products and the
impact of general market factors in the print industry generally
and the economy as a whole. Other risks are detailed in Presstek's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The words
"looking forward," "anticipates," "expects," "will," "believe(s),"
"may," "is expected to," "likely," and similar expressions, among
others, identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date the statement was made. Presstek
undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this news release. MARKETING CONTACT: INVESTOR
CONTACT: Brian Wolfenden Jane Miller Director of Marketing
Communications Corporate Relations Manager (603) 594-8585 ext. 3435
(603) 594-8585 ext. 3346 DATASOURCE: Presstek, Inc. CONTACT:
MARKETING CONTACT: Brian Wolfenden, Director of Marketing
Communications, +1-603-594-8585 ext. 3435, , or INVESTOR CONTACT:
Jane Miller, Corporate Relations Manager, +1-603-594-8585 ext.
3346, , both of Presstek Web site: http://www.presstek.com/
http://www.efi.com/
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