CHICAGO, Sept. 25 -- Presstek, Inc., a leading provider of direct digital imaging technology, will focus on the benefits of process-free imaging at this year's Graph Expo show. Graph Expo, the largest North American printing industry conference and exhibit, will be held September 28th to October 1st at McCormick Place in Chicago. Presstek will feature its chemistry-free CTP solutions at its stand (booth # 4052), including live printing demonstrations with the new process-free Applause plate. "Presstek continues to grow as a leading source for chemistry-free CTP and DI printing solutions. The latest of these solutions are being demonstrated at this year's Graph Expo show. Applause, a process-free thermal plate is a new Presstek CTP product and the Kodak Polychrome Graphics DirectPress 5034 DI, is the latest Presstek enabled DI press that will be featured at the show," says Ed Marino Presstek's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Presstek is committed to developing solutions that allow printers to work more efficiently while minimizing the environmental impact of the print manufacturing process. This makes our products attractive to both print providers and buyers." Applause Plates -- Provides One Step CTP Process-free Applause thermal plates will be the featured product in Presstek's booth. Plates will be imaged on a Dimension400 CTP system and then printed live on a Komori Lithrone 420 press. Applause delivers one-step CTP -- users simply image and print. Applause CTP eliminates processors, safelights, and chemistry; along with the costs, time-consuming steps, and inconsistencies associated with them. In the pressroom, Applause provides faster roll-up and make-ready, greater ink/water latitude, and more reliable reprints. Attendees will have an opportunity to speak directly with Applause beta users: Gene Scott of Pony Express in Ohio and Chris Edwards from Infinity Graphics in California. Both will be available to answer questions at the Presstek booth during the show. New OEM Plate Targets Instant and Small Commercial Printers This new chemistry-free plate, manufactured by Presstek, only requires a simple wash with water before printing. Unlike other Presstek plate products, the new plate is designed as a non-ablative, short-run plate that requires less power to image. This exciting new product will bring the benefits of chemistry-free metal-based CTP to the instant and small commercial printer. Presstek's General Manager, Off-Press Business David Ventola says, "We are very pleased to announce this exciting new plate technology. We now will be able to deliver the benefits of chemistry-free CTP to the two-page and duplicator market, which until now, has been primarily using chemically developed polyester plates and traditional metal plate solutions. Presstek is committed to offering printers the best in chemistry-free, environmentally- friendly offset printing solutions and we are pleased to further our growth in this segment." Dimension CTP Systems and Anthem Plates - Proven Savings and Proven Advantage Presstek's GATF Intertech award-winning Dimension CTP using Anthem thermal plates continues to gain market share. A recent State Street Consultants, Inc. (SSCI) market study (Q2 2003) once again ranked Presstek's Dimension400 CTP system the #1 choice in two-up and four-up CTP systems among smaller printers. The same study also shows that Presstek continues to post strong gains in market share, continuing a trend of outperforming the market as a whole. Presstek's chemistry-free Anthem plates provide exceptional print performance. Anthem is a "drop-in" product with excellent ink / water latitude, compatibility with a wide range of press chemistry, and run lengths up to 100,000. After imaging, only a simple cleaning with water is required; there is no baking and no chemical processing. Dimension systems are available in two-, four-, and eight-page systems, and are optimized to work with Anthem thermal plates to create an integrated system that results in higher productivity, cleaner operation, and lower cost. Anthem will be showcased in live demonstrations on Presstek Dimension400 and 800 systems at the Presstek booth. EFI's Velocity OneFlow Available with Dimension CTP Systems Presstek has entered into a master reseller arrangement with EFI to market and distribute the Velocity OneFlow automated workflow system with the Dimension family of CTP systems. Velocity OneFlow provides custom workflow automation that streamlines the entire file preparation process including pre- flighting, trapping, imposition, proofing, and platemaking. The bundled solution will be on display in Presstek's booth (#4052), and will be available through Presstek's distribution channels. "Presstek is thrilled to add this exciting workflow solution to our product line," commented Marc Johnson, Presstek's Off-press Marketing Manager. "Our growing base of small and mid-size printers -- especially printers who are new adopters of CTP -- require a digital front-end that is proven, powerful, and easy to use. The fact that so many of our customers already have familiarity with EFI's products through their use of Fiery(TM) controllers will be a huge advantage as they transition to digital platemaking." New Versions of DI-rip, Trapping, and Advanced Screening Support Presstek has released version 6.0 of DI-rip, which incorporates Harlequin's newest generation Eclipse technology. DI-rip 6.0 is available immediately for all Presstek Dimension users. This latest generation of the highly acclaimed Harlequin ScriptWorks RIP incorporates many features that printers have been asking for including full "native" support for PDF 1.4 including transparency and JBIG2 compression, support for referenced PDF and RGB output, and full support for Microsoft's Windows NT, 2000, and XP operating systems. New trapping plug-ins TrapPro Lite and TrapPro have also been released for the DI-rip workflows. These new trapping plug-ins are designed to maximize the new features in Harlequin's Eclipse technology. TrapPro Lite's features include special ink handling, full N-color support for CMYK and spot colors, automatic handling of superblacks, small text protection, and support of trap zones generated in PostScript 3 files. TrapPro, which will be offered as an upgrade from TrapPro Lite additional functionality includes sliding, feathered, and anamorphic traps; as well as image mask support, mitered ends and joins, complex image and shfill support, and raster-to-vector and raster- to-raster trapping support. Presstek also announces support for additional screening options with DI- rip version 6.0. When used with Harlequin's unique additional gray level technology, now available in all current versions of DI-rip, Presstek Dimension systems are now qualified for higher line screen use, up to 300lpi (lines per inch) or 118l/cm (lines-per-centimeter). Presstek has also qualified Harlequin's widely used implementation of stochastic (FM) screening for Dimension/Anthem systems, Harlequin Dispersed Screening (HDS(TM)) will be offered as a new plug-in for DI-rip as HDS Stochastic Screening. First Major Showing of New KPG DirectPress 5034 DI Kodak Polychrome Graphics will showcase its new DirectPress 5034 DI system, a two-page, four-color digital imaging press powered by Presstek's ProFire imaging and thermal plate technology in booth #4030. The KPG DirectPress 5034 DI system combines the high quality advantages of waterless offset printing with the workflow and automation benefits of digital printing. The KPG DirectPress incorporates legendary Kodak Color Science(TM). KPG has put its years of color experience into the DirectPress to help the printer easily and consistently deliver the color its customers demand. The DirectPress 5034's versatility enables users to print a wider variety of jobs more efficiently and profitability. Because it is an offset process, standard bindery processes can be applied to the printed sheet. Ryobi 3404 DI -- Proven Performance The first partner to achieve commercial success with Presstek's ProFire enabled DI presses is Ryobi (booth # 2641) with its 3404 DI press, a two-page, four-color offset press. The 3404DI targets the market between offset presses and color copiers. It is able to satisfy the demand for short-run four-color printing applications, including catalogs, posters, direct mail, and promotional literature. The Ryobi 3404DI is equipped with easy-to-use automated laborsaving devices such as automatic cleaning devices for the ink rollers, blankets, and impression cylinder. The press is equipped with an auto print system that streamlines the entire printing process from plate advancing and imaging, to printing and cleaning. "The 3404 DI has been one of our premier offerings. Our customers have proven the benefits of Presstek's DI technology by achieving even shorter turnaround times, and greater labor savings. As in previous years at Graph Expo, prospective customers are interested in seeing first-hand how the Ryobi 3404 DI's user-friendly design provides for easy operation; offers flexible, cost-effective performance for short-run jobs; and paves the way for new opportunities in the short-run color printing business," said Don Trytten, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Xpdex Import/Ryobi.