FOSTER CITY, Calif. – Jan. 23, 2006 – EFI, the world leader in color digital print servers, superwide format printers and inks, and print management solutions, today announced several recent developments supporting the company’s intent to drive the ubiquity of variable data printing (VDP), which represents a significant new revenue stream opportunity for its customers. EFI will have a major presence at the PODi (Print On Demand Initiative) Applications Forum, which will be held Feb.12-14, 2007 in Anaheim, Calif., where the company will launch the Fiery FreeForm Kit, a new tool to help customers implement personalized, one-to-one marketing campaigns. And in an industry first and a proof point of the highest level of quality, EFI recently passed all of the tests in the PODi PPML (personalized print markup language, the widely supported, XML(extensible markup language)-based industry standard print language developed by PODi) Test Suite. According to a recent article published in Cygnus Business Media publication Printing News1, printers who offer one-to-one marketing campaigns as a service to their customers see an increase in the value of an average order by 24.5 percent, and improved customer retention by 47.6 percent. Printers’ customers experience improved response time by 33.9 percent when they use personalized marketing pieces. EFI’s VDP initiatives are in line with the company’s objective of providing innovative, industry-leading solutions that help customers thrive in the dynamic, demanding print industry. Because offering VDP enables EFI customers to realize business growth and increased profits, EFI is committed to providing an open VDP solution tailored to each customer’s individual needs, and to introducing customers to VDP’s potential. The EFI Fiery color digital print server, with more than 14 million users, offers unparalleled color quality, open VDP workflow flexibility, and expert-level tools for graphic arts professionals. EFI collaborates with the leading personalization software vendors and supports such VDP languages as industry standard PPML, Fiery FreeForm, and a host of legacy proprietary languages, ensuring that the Fiery server readily integrates into existing workflows and delivers consistency regardless of whether the job is VDP or non-VDP. Because the Internet is an easy way for EFI customers to work with their customers on one-to-one marketing projects, VDP is incorporated into EFI’s web-to-print solutions, including Digital StoreFront and the PrinterSite family of products. These integrate with EFI Fiery and Print MIS solutions, creating an efficient, profitable way for EFI customers to handle the increased business VDP makes possible. EFI’s recent VDP developments include: PODi Applications Forum (Feb. 12-14, 2007, Anaheim, Calif.) EFI, a PODi Executive Member, is a silver-level sponsor of the Sixth Annual PODi Application Forum, an educational, three-day event dedicated to digital printing and personalized marketing. The conference covers the technology as well as the business strategy for companies involved in digital printing and the marketing opportunities for digital print personalization. EFI will showcase its powerful, innovative VDP solutions, and Kathy Wilson, EFI director of product marketing and strategy and PODi marketing chairperson, will present the PODi Best Practices Awards session. EFI Launches Fiery FreeForm Kit Demonstrating the company’s commitment to helping customers incorporate VDP for business growth and increased profits, at the PODi Application Forum EFI will launch the Fiery FreeForm Kit, designed to help customers implement VDP. EFI’s Fiery FreeForm is powerful variable data technology built into every Fiery server. Unlike other personalization solutions, no special software is required when customers use the EFI Driver included with Fiery servers. To help customers immediately get started with VDP, the Fiery FreeForm Kit includes examples they can use to show their customers what is possible with personalized marketing campaigns. The examples may be edited to use as the basis for VDP jobs. Also including sample databases and instructions, the Fiery FreeForm Kit offers an ideal way for customers to learn how VDP works. Industry First - EFI Fiery Servers Pass PODi PPML Test Suite EFI is the first company to have passed all of the tests in PODi’s PPML test suite. PPML is an open, interoperable, device-independent standard that enables the widespread use of personalized print applications in high volumes. EFI’s having achieved 100 percent success across all of these stringent tests ensures that customers using Fiery color digital print servers have the highest possible levels of quality, flexibility and ease when printing personalized material on demand at high volume. “With EFI VDP technology, our customers are able to add tremendous value to their service offering and add a new revenue stream,” said Kathy Wilson, director of product marketing and strategy, EFI. “Their customers realize the increased response rates of personalized, one-to-one marketing campaigns and are willing to pay a premium for that impact. We’re driving the adoption of VDP because this value-added capability provides market opportunities that improve competitiveness and profitability for EFI customers.” Availability Fiery solutions and Digital StoreFront are sold through EFI's OEM partners. The PrinterSite family of products is available directly from EFI. The Fiery FreeForm Kit is available via download at www.efi.com/freeformkit/