Hanover, MA…April 2006 -- A recent I.T. Strategies survey of 47 owners of digital presses found that more than 10 different types of companies had at least one digital press. Digital presses in the survey include HP Indigo, Xerox iGen3, Kodak NexPress and Xeikon digital press. The two largest groups in the survey are Commercial Printers (30%) and Digital Print Shops (26%). Of all the respondents, 80% print direct mail, no matter what their company type. 45% of respondents report that Direct Mail is their fastest growing application. Two print shops with digital presses reported that signage was their fastest growing application. According to Marco Boer, consulting Partner at I.T. Strategies, “Variable data printing is allowing the direct mail industry to become more relevant and effective than ever before. In an industry where a 98% failure rate is the norm, it must change and become more cost effective at a time when there are so many competing media. It is no wonder that direct mail is cited by digital press owners as their fastest growing application.” In the survey, more than 90% of the respondents were happy with their presses and said that if they had it to do over again, they would purchase another. Most respondents feel that digital printing is the technology of the future for the printing industry. According to one respondent, “Printers who don’t invest will not survive. We are [investing] and will be one of the winners of the future.”