CeBIT 2001 - As of September this year, customers will be able to order the new NexPress 2100 digital color press. Sales will open at Print 2001 in Chicago. The Eastman Kodak/Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) joint venture NexPress is on schedule with the development of the fully digital press first unveiled at DRUPA 2000. NexPress took less than four years to develop from the first sketches to the market-ready product. This is only half the time usually taken to develop similar products. As is usual for products with this level of complexity, NexPress is to install the first machines in selected test markets from the middle of the year. These will include the USA, Germany, the U.K., France and the Benelux countries. NexPress chose this structured process in order to provide the customer with the best possible service and support infrastructure for supporting and testing all aspects of the machine, for example remote maintenance and diagnosis. When this test market phase has been successfully completed, delivery will be expanded to include other countries over the next year. The NexPress 2100 is to be produced at Heidelberg’s Kiel site. Holger Reichardt, Marketing Director at Heidelberg, is very optimistic about the digital printing situation, "With the market launch of the NexPress 2100 this year, Heidelberg is setting new standards of quality, service and availability. We have set ourselves ambitious goals for the future and are planning to take the lead in the digital color printing market in the next five years" Customers will be able to order the new NexPress 2100 color digital press from September 2001.