(October 14, 2008) Xaar is pleased to announce that Aqua Tint, a leading South Asian ink manufacturer, has been appointed an official 'Xaar Approved Ink Partner'. The partnership is the result of close cooperation between the two companies over the past two years which has resulted in two Aqua Tint solvent inks (Standard and Super Saver) being approved for use with Xaar 128 printheads.

Aqua Tint has built a strong reputation as a supplier of consistent quality solvent inkjet inks and are a valued contributor to Xaar's growing portfolio of approved inks, reinforcing Xaar's open ink policy. Based in Mumbai and Vadodara, India and the US, the company uses quality raw materials and manufactures its range of inks under very strict quality parameters. Pigment particle size is milled to accurate sub micron levels to ensure batch-to-batch consistency, stability and quality.

"The partnership with Xaar is very important for us," explains Saurabh Goswamy, Company Director, Aqua Tint. "The digital ink market for large format printers is a rapidly expanding part of our business and by working with Xaar we can ensure we continue to develop and deliver high-quality and reliable inks. We are looking forward to announcing further Xaar-approved inks for a range of Xaar printheads over the next few months."

Neeraj Thappa, Xaar India, welcomes Aqua Tint as an Approved Partner. "Our strategy to partner with specialist ink manufacturers results in a wide range of inks being approved for use with Xaar-enabled digital printers to deliver superior results. Aqua Tint has a good track record of working with us. 'Approved' ink status is gained by successfully completing rigorous test criteria, which includes materials compatibility, printhead lifetime testing, print performance and extended reliability testing."

As a seal of its endorsement, Xaar-approved Aqua Tint inks also carry Xaar's tamper evident hologram to identify that they are genuine Xaar-approved inks. The Xaar hologram differentiates Aqua Tint ink from non-approved inks.