Mortsel, Belgium 31 May 2001 Agfa announced that Associated Mediabase (AMB) of Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) selected the Agfa Polaris computer-to-plate system for its UK operations. The first of over 30 systems were installed at the print site, Bristol Evening Post & Press in Bristol and The Sentinel print site in Stoke-on-Trent. After an 18-month evaluation period, independent consultants from The Bedford Group Inc. identified Agfa's as the preferred system. "The Agfa Polaris systems extend our existing digital workflow to one of the best CtP devices in the market today said Allan Marshall, group technology director for Associated Newspapers Limited. "The Polaris offers us an improvement in production throughput and quality while interfacing seamlessly to our proprietary digital front end. We feel the product that Agfa has supplied will satisfy our requirements, with a solid investment protection model. During the same period we have transitioned to a composite PDF workflow for page transmission and proofing. The final pages are transmitted to ANL's 13 UK contract print sites as PDF where they are ripped uniquely to local print conditions." The latest Polaris installation took place in ANL's plant in Plymouth. The initiative demonstrates the organisation's commitment to a totally digital workflow to improve production throughput and scheduling. Dave Collette, product business manager for Associated Mediabase said "Overall we are realising the success we had expected and our users are very pleased. In addition the service and support that we are now experiencing from Agfa, with the CtP installations, are proving to be a very important component of our principle decision."