March 12, 2003 -- (WhatTheyThink.com) -- Electronics for Imaging’s (EFI) acquisition of Printcafe will be good for printers, print buyers and even vendors say the top executives at both companies. Speaking in an interview with WhatTheyThink.com, Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI and Marc Olin, CEO of Printcafe said there are immediate and obvious opportunities for everyone in the supply chain. The acquisition has not closed yet, but Gecht and Olin declare that new possibilities are on the horizon. Says Gecht, “EFI has clearly established its leadership in increasing productivity on the shop floor with our Velocity workflow solutions, high-speed print servers and VDP (variable data printing) expertise. By joining forces, we will bring enormous efficiencies to the entire printing process from purchasing to printing.” Marc Olin stated, “EFI’s commitment to open architecture, and proven willingness to integrate where it’s in the best interest of customers, may open many new doors for us down the road--opportunities that would not have existed otherwise. The fact that they have such incredible sales channels developed for many of their products also gives us a great opportunity to expose many more potential customers to our products.” Gecht confirmed their strong support for interoperability between systems and indicated that the combined company will work with all vendors like MAN Roland, Heidelberg, Creo and others. Regarding the competitive tension with Creo during the bidding process, Gecht said he hopes they can work together. “In business today, you can be both "competitor" and "collaborator" with the same company. I have great respect for Creo’s accomplishments in the CTP market and I look forward to opportunities for collaboration with them in the future. Creo and Printcafe have a long and good relationship and we need to see how all this plays out. I think we are all agreed that the bottom line for success in this industry means making customers happy.” Olin agreed, “Creo and Printcafe share a number of customers, many of whom are depending on us. We don’t intend to let them down.” For now, Gecht says Printcafe will keep their name and operations in Pittsburgh and Olin stated that Printcafe’s user’s conference is on schedule to be their best ever with early reservations well ahead of last year at this time. ------- Editor’s Note: Premium Access Members at WhatTheyThink.com can view the entire interview with Marc Olin and Guy Gecht. Topics include CIM, the ASP model, Velocity workflow, sales strategies and much more. The interview was conducted by Gail Nickel-Kailing. www.whattheythink.com