TEWKSBURY, MASS -- October 6, 2006 – Though Graph Expo is usually a forum for promoting the new, imaging technologies leader ECRM believes the focus this year will spotlight a shift away from the old. Violet CTP technology is gaining strong momentum as more suppliers make substantial investments. Currently, Agfa, and Fuji are offering commercial Violet CTP plates, and at the show Kodak, Konica Minolta, and CitiPlate are expected to announce new violet plate products for commercial printers. ECRM, who has made Violet CTP the core of their product strategy, is compatible with each Violet plate offering. Today ECRM announced they will be stressing the value of Violet CTP technology in their booth (#5218) at the 2006 Graph Expo and Converting Expo (October 15-18, 2006 in Chicago at McCormick Place South). In a recent article on WhatTheyThink.com, industry consultant and authority Andy Tribute concluded, “I believe that 2007 will be a pivotal year for CTP. At this time violet-based platesetters will move forward and technologically overtake thermal platesetters in almost all areas. The violet devices with new high-power diodes will be faster than any equivalent thermal system. They will also be more reliable and lower in cost to run. I believe we will see violet platesetters from two-page up to VLF formats.” The article in its entirety is available at: http://members.whattheythink.com/expertrow/tribute63.cfm. At 2006 Graph Expo and Converting Expo At the show, ECRM will be exhibiting three different violet CTP platesetters including the MAKO 2, MAKO 4X and the MAKO 8. In addition, a MAKO 4matic is being demonstrated in the Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging booth (#5212). Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging is using the MAKO 4matic to help introduce their latest new plate offering -- a new Violet CTP plate. “We believe that this technology meets the needs of a significant number of printers,” notes Bob Feldberg, Vice President, Marketing, Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging. “Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging has always provided its customers with world class combinations of consumables, hardware, service and support. We have chosen to market our plates and the ECRM family of platesetters as a system to provide high quality and low total cost of ownership to our customers. The Konica Minolta/ECRM partnership is one of the longest and most successful in the graphic arts industry and we expect to continue to support the industry’s technological changes.” Users Support Violet CTP from ECRM Production Value: “ECRM has impressed us with their durability, dependability and reliability, notes Production Manager Dave Chvilicek, Community Shoppers, Delavan, Wisconsin. “With the ECRM platesetter, we’ve been able to reallocate 4 of the 5 people to other departments [80% reduction in direct costs]. In addition, we’ve seen significant throughput increases, sharper halftone reproduction, less plate remakes, and the elimination of stripping. Every single member of our 40 prepress and press department staffers has benefited from [Violet] CTP.” Versatility: “In researching both violet and thermal platesetters, we came to appreciate what CTP could do for us,” noted Pat Barlow, President, Barlow Printing. “In the end, thermal systems were just too expensive to generate the ROI we needed. A critical factor in choosing the ECRM Mako platesetter [MAKO 8] was its versatility. Using one platesetter, we can produce plates for our 1-up Didde Apollo press, 4-up plates for our Heidelberg Speedmaster 72, and 8-up plates for our Heidelberg SOR 104 and 36-inch web presses. We get all the savings of violet CTP technology, as well as the versatility of a flat-bed system. That’s value we can count on.” Cost Savings: “ECRM’s CTP system has made cost justification at CFC easy,” says Roger Chamberlain, manager of printing at The Cincinnati Insurance Companies (Fairfield, OH). “We estimate that jobs are produced in 20% of the time compared to 2001. Since September 2002, we’ve produced approximately 7,500 plates translating to 22,500 pages [7,500 pages per year or 600 pages per month]. With CTP, we were able to realize $90,000-per-year cost savings, offsetting the equipment cost in less than a year.”