NEW YORK, April 7, 2003 - At On Demand in New York (April 7th - April 9th 2003), Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) unveiled three new configurations of the GATF-award-winning NexPress 2100 digital production color press. The new configurations extend the benefits of the NexPress 2100 solution, providing customers with enhanced productivity, additional functionality and greater ease-of-use. The new configurations provide improvements in printing, ripping and overall workflow functionality. At the heart of these new configurations is the NexStation II digital front end, which allows printers to choose the solution that best fits their current requirements and upgrade as their business grows. The Standard Edition of the NexPress 2100 solution has the power to provide a full variety of services, from static to variable data printing. It comes with the new NexStation II SE digital front end and the new Acrobat-based NexTreme DL-100 variable data software. The Xtreme Edition of the NexPress solution offers print service providers the most complete range of services, including complex variable data printing. It is equipped with the NexStation II XE and also NexTreme DL-100 variable data software. The Entry Edition solution, with the NexStation II EE, is designed for print providers to offer static digital printing services like short-run and quick turnaround jobs. Enhanced Productivity The new NexPress 2100 press configurations feature numerous improvements in overall system productivity. First, the new NexStation II digital front end yields faster RIPing capabilities and more storage capacity, allowing customers to turn around jobs quicker. Faster cycle-up times and improved usability of the entire system due to engine-related improvements also provide major advancements in productivity. The NexPress 2100 press offers greater productivity enhancement when combined with the Duplo System that Heidelberg is introducing at On Demand. The Duplo booklet maker automatically folds, stitches and trims finished booklets from the collated output of the NexPress 2100 press, providing a total solution for customers. Additional Functionality Along with productivity benefits, customers will profit from new features of the 2.0 software, which will also be available to current NexPress 2100 press customers. The substrate assistant enables press operators to qualify papers themselves. They can quickly prepare their NexPress 2100 press for a new paper in a matter of a few minutes and immediately print customer jobs. To meet tight deadlines, express print allows press operators to insert rush jobs, giving them ultimate control over the print stream. The report generator gives print providers a powerful tool to rapidly review job statistics and press functions. Customized reports can be created in a PDF format to be easily used in billing and accounting systems. Greater Ease-Of-Use The new offline remote client -- now available for both PC and Macintosh platforms -- offers all of the front end's functionality, allowing users to operate the press from a different room or from a different geographic area. Users can also pre-define and view their PDF- based imposition signature offline, independent from the front end, using a new Acrobat plug-in tool. The plug-in enables remote users to submit a job and the job ticket information in a single step. The new configurations further enhance ease-of-use with improvements to the NexPert Operator Support System, the browser-based program that provides a knowledge base of technical guidance to help operators keep the press up and running. For instance, IQ test targets and supporting documentation on how to evaluate the prints allow an operator to better maintain image quality. Users will also benefit from registration adjustment improvements and a better process linearization. "Since its inception, the NexPress 2100 press has been meeting the needs of customers worldwide," said Bill Blair, senior vice president, Digital, Heidelberg USA. "With the enhanced NexPress 2100 configurations, the system will help our customers to be even more productive." All NexPress 2100 press owners benefit from the NexStation digital front end's powerful production of jobs and radically open architecture. Built for open PDF and Postscript file formats and the PPML/VDX open standard for variable data jobs, the NexStation front end enables easy and efficient management of static and variable-data jobs, as well as those requiring complex imposition and mixed paper types. It was also designed for maximum productivity, automating the management of individual print jobs or entire groups of job types and applications. The new NexPress 2100 configurations will be available from Heidelberg worldwide in June 2003. The new NexStation II digital front-end editions will also be offered to existing customers. The new 2.0 software version will run on the installed base of NexPress 2100 systems and will be made available as an upgrade option.