ANAHEIM, Calif.--Oct. 28, 2002--The Joint Technology Council (JTC) partner's executive forum held yesterday kicked off Xplor's 23rd Global Electronic Document Systems Conference and Exhibit to an impressive start, with standing room only for some of the 1400 attending the session to witness the latest in innovative data technologies. With organisers expecting over 6000 professionals to attend the four-day conference and exhibit, the extensive involvement of representatives from Adobe Systems, Heidelberg/Digital NexPress, Hewlett-Packard, IBM Printing Systems, Nipson Digital Printing Systems, BV, Oce Printing Systems USA, Inc, Scitex Digital Printing and Xerox Corporation, confirms Xplor's market dominance in the US$125-billion document systems industry. In his inaugural speech as Xplor General Manager, welcoming delegates from over 40 countries, Bill McCalpin confirmed Xplor's goal to provide robust global educational and networking opportunities to industry players and revealed plans to develop a series of new products and services to augment annual revenue for the not-for-profit association. "We will use the 2003 year to roll out a series of new products and services that will benefit both users and vendors of electronic document technologies," McCalpin said. As part of this vision, Xplor will focus on education with the formation of the Xplor Educational Certificate program and the promotion of Xplor.org as a one-stop resource centre for document system information. In addition to education, Xplor aims to raise revenues through the development and sale of products and services to the technology users, managers and exhibitors who form their customer base. In servicing this demand, Xplor intends to harness the time and expertise of volunteer members to increase the value of membership and raise the level of professionalism and education in the industry. The conference provides a powerful platform to explore the technology progress made by Xplor's international members. For one digital printing manufacturer, the use of VersaMark(TM) technology has reduced colour printing costs to just 2 cents (U.S.) per page. For another, the ability to print 2.4 million A4 images a day means valuable contracts stay in-house. Such success stories abound in what has been described as a world-class educational experience. With membership increasing and interest already registered for Atlanta 2003, Xplor is defiantly challenging current economic woes and is online to attain its ultimate mission of continuing as the global member association of the electronic document industry.