CHICAGO, Sept. 6 Scitex Digital Printing today launched Business Color(TM), a new print category designed to fill a void in the printing market and extend color printing to new market segments traditionally underserved by color. The technology behind Business Color by Scitex optimizes print quality, speed, and economics in full process color digital printing. Business Color is aimed initially at commercial printers, direct mail, data center printers, book and catalog printing, and ticket, tag, and label markets. "The Business Color promise is simple,'' explained Nachum (Homi) Shamir, president and CEO of Scitex Digital Printing. "Deliver the optimal digital printing solution to meet a variety of color printing applications across a variety of different markets. While such a promise may have been only a bold claim in the industry five years ago, today we have made it a reality. "Business Color provides a new alternative to offset printing and to segments of the market that typically have found color printing unsuitable because of per unit cost, printing speed, or image quality. Traditional color printing technologies typically optimize two of those key variables, but compromise the third. We now offer digital print technology that reliably delivers print speed and image quality in a business model that makes economic sense.'' Business Color can match the speed and low per-page cost of offset printing, yet utilizes digital technologies so that variable page-by-page data now is a viable option for segments of the market not traditionally served cost-effectively by color. "Our vision is to be recognized as the global leader in high speed, color printing solutions,'' said Shamir. "Business Color helps bring clarity to a significant portion of that vision and reinforce our position of leadership in the industry.'' Shamir also noted that Business Color adds definition to the company's three-fold focus on growth: develop and extend core business strengths, redefine competition in the industry, and deliver on its legacy of innovation for the future. The company has seen its sales and earnings grow at double- digit rates during the last four consecutive quarters, and Shamir expects Business Color to add momentum to that growth. "As we think about profitable growth throughout our business, our first focus is on developing and extending our core competencies and strengths,'' Shamir said. "We own competitive technological and product advantages today in our core markets. Expect us to reinforce our strengths as one lever for growth, even as we reach out for new markets. This is what we are doing with Business Color, expanding on a core competency and extending our reach into new, emerging market segments where we see opportunities for rapid growth. "Second, expect us to take a different approach to defining our competition in the industry. When we ask how we will grow and what new markets we should pursue, we are really asking how we should compete in the industry, or, as I like to say, how we should redefine competition in the industry. We are doing that with Business Color, creating an alternative to offset and a new competitive category in the industry. We are also redefining competition through new working relationships. "For example, we now have a distribution agreement with Xerox. One view would see Xerox as a competitor in the digital printing world. And from a traditional perspective, that's accurate. But Xerox also is a partner who can help us achieve our business vision and objectives. Similarly, we have a joint venture with ink specialist Collins, traditionally a key competitor in inks. However, we recognized that the product and R&D strengths of our respective organizations are complementary, and complementary strengths can lead to growth and new markets for both partners. But it takes looking at the world differently to recognize these opportunities.'' Shamir concluded by pointing to the Scitex heritage of invention and innovation as integral to the company's growth strategy. "We played a pioneering role in the development of digital printing. That heritage is also a foundation for future success. We continue to strengthen ourselves in this area, especially from the perspective of our customers. Like many companies, there was a day when innovation for Scitex meant developing a new idea in the lab and then asking customers if they were interested in it. Now, we are looking at innovation through the eyes of our customers more consistently and thoroughly. We call it smart innovation. It's innovation that solves a business problem, not just a technological problem. Business Color, meeting specific business needs for customers, is one of the best proofs we have of smart innovation.''