Strategic alliance is aimed at developing a new generation of Piezo-electric inkjet technology for the Graphic Arts industry January 31, 2002 - New Hampshire based Spectra, a market leader in the printhead OEM market, and Germany based Heidelberg, a market leader in providing solutions for the print media industry, have announced the recent signing of a long term License, Development and Supply Agreement aimed at developing a new generation of digital graphic arts equipment based on Spectra’s proprietary piezoelectric ink jet technology. Under the terms of the agreement Heidelberg and Spectra will work closely together to support the development of technology and products aimed at a broad range of digital printing applications. “This is a milestone in Spectra’s development,” says John Batterton, President and CEO of Spectra. “Spectra has worked closely with Heidelberg for a number of years resulting in the impressive technology demonstration of a page-wide imprinting unit at DRUPA 2000. With the signing of this agreement our relationship with Heidelberg will be even closer. Substantial resources will be allocated to develop leading edge products and technology for several segments of the graphic arts market. Heidelberg is the leading supplier of solutions to the printing industry worldwide and we are tremendously excited about establishing an even closer relationship with this leading edge company,” continues Batterton. At drupa 2000 Heidelberg unveiled and demonstrated the VDP 921 Imprinting Unit, a 12.5” wide ink jet engine with over 7600 nozzles, built by Spectra, and integrated with a Printmaster QM 46. With line speed of over 300 ft./min., a resolution of 600x600 dpi and capable of generating 300 million drops per second, it is one of the highest performing ink jet engines ever built. "As a worldwide provider of solutions to the print media industry, Heidelberg closely follows trends and market developments within the sector and is constantly working to develop and improve technological concepts," says Wolfgang Pfizenmaier, member of Heidelberg's management board and CEO of Heidelberg Digital. "At drupa 2000 Heidelberg successfully presented, together with Spectra, a possible answer to the market trend towards the integration of high-quality color offset printing and personalization with an innovative ink jet head. As the feedback of our customers was very positive we are glad to extend the relationship with Spectra to continue the partnership in the future," Pfizenmaier adds and indicates: "Long term, there is more to come with respect to ink jet applications for commercial printers, and Spectra turns out to suit Heidelberg best - with its technology and as a partner." Spectra is a leading developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art piezoelectric ink jet printheads and related consumables used in a wide range of applications, such as coding & marking, commercial printing, wide format graphics and pre-press applications. Based in Hanover-Lebanon, New Hampshire, Spectra has developed multiple generations of proprietary drop-on-demand ink jet printheads capable of producing high performance digital images. With a staff of more than 230, Spectra invests heavily in research and development and maintains one of the most capable ink jet R&D groups in the world.