MISSISSAUGA, Ont., Canada--July 25, 2001--Xerox Corporation today announced the development of a breakthrough technology yielding color dry inks, or "toners,'' that will narrow the gap between color and monochrome printing costs. Code-named "EA Technology,'' the patented process produces toners that improve the quality of printed materials and lower printing costs substantially. EA refers to an environmentally friendly chemical process called emulsion aggregation, which has been in development for more than eight years at Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC). Xerox's EA Technology process creates small toner particles that are precisely controlled in size, shape and color so that color prints from xerographic equipment exhibit image quality practically indistinguishable from ink-based offset color printing. "EA technology will remove the last barrier to the widespread adoption of digital color printing,'' said Dr. Rafik Loutfy, vice president and head of XRCC. "By improving image quality and slashing cost, Xerox is moving full-color printing further into the mainstream.'' "Companies focused on bringing color office and production digital printing products to market see chemically-produced toner as the next wave in color toner technology,'' said John Shane, director, CAP Ventures, a strategic consulting firm. "Vendors who want to be seriousplayers in color digital printing will have to master this technology and offer its benefits to customers if they wish to be competitive well into the future.'' CAP Ventures predicts that worldwide revenues in the digital color printing market will more than double in the next three years. The EA Technology process uses a controlled method to chemically "grow'' toner particles from molecules up to particles of any desired size and shape. Conventional toner is created by pulverizing chunks of toner compound and sifting them to collect the proper size of toner particles. The new toners developed using EA Technology are expected to become available in selected Xerox toner-based products starting next year.