Orlando, FL (NEXPO, Booth #2141) – April 21, 2007 – Agfa Graphics today announced it is demonstrating its new line of violet chemistry-free digital plates which are making their North American debut at Agfa's booth at NEXPO 2007. As the leader in plate production, the introduction of this new line of plates from Agfa Graphics confirms that violet technology is the right solution for the newspaper industry. The non-ablative plates produce exceptionally strong image contrast, no on-press contamination even with press runs of 150,000, and work with low-power, reliable violet diodes. A majority of newspaper CtP installations have invested in violet platesetters for a variety of reasons – their unbeatable speed, laser reliability, cost effectiveness and excellent image quality. As concern for the environment continues to grow, newspapers are also becoming more ecologically-responsible. Agfa's violet chemistry-free plates not only are more environmentally sensitive, they look, feel and behave like normal plates and can run on most existing violet CtP devices (a new white paper – "Chemistry-free Plates" – by Agfa plate specialists is available at Agfa's booth at NEXPO and online at www.agfapress.com). "Agfa's violet chemistry-free plates provide newspaper publishers with many clear advantages over competitive technologies," said Agfa's Sheila Nysko, business development manager, North America, Newspapers Systems. "Compared to processless plates, Agfa's violet chemistry-free plates have a strong image contrast. You know the plate is perfect every time. Newspapers today don't want to use their presses as processors. These plates deliver the highest quality image the first time and every time – and do so while also being simpler, cleaner and greener." As a leading producer of violet plates for the newspaper industry, as well as a leading manufacturer of chemistry-free plates for the commercial printing industry, Agfa is well-positioned to be the leader in violet chemistry-free plates. The new violet chemistry-free plates are exposed with low-power violet lasers, so newspapers that have already invested in violet CtP can easily move to the chemistry-free system. A clean-out unit removes the non-imaged areas all in one easy step. And press operators will find the plates easy to work with and almost identical to the plates they previously used. Live demonstrations of this new line of chemistry-free violet plates will be conducted at Agfa's NEXPO booth (#2141) throughout the show.