Gent, Belgium - April 14, 2003 - Esko-Graphics, the market leader in CtP and packaging solutions and world leader in direct digital imaging of flexo plates, announces the launch of a new line of Cyrel (tm) Digital Imagers. They will be introduced at CMM International-the Converting Machinery/Materials Conference and Exposition, taking place at McCormick Place, Chicago (IL-USA) on April 14-17. The Esko-Graphics CDI Advance is the result of customer driven development, whereby the quality and reliability of the CDI installs is combined with the requirement of creating a modern and ergonomic working environment for the operators. "The CDI Advance is a newly engineered digital imager. It allows for more ease of operation and dual use of plates and sleeves, assuring the highest quality level. These were firm requirements from our customers, to which we gladly respond," says Jürgen Andresen, Marketing Director Packaging Hardware. The CDI Advance will be available in three productivity levels: the CDI Advance 15(1.5 m/hour), the CDI Advance 25(2.5 m/hour) and the CDI Advance 40(4.0 m_/hour). The 8-beam optics guarantees the finest details on the flexo plates. The other area of major improvement is related to the ergonomics of the digital imager. Surveys have indicated that the loading and unloading of larger formats of plates and sleeves deserved more attention to create better and easier handling, be it manual or automated. The CDI Advance is equipped with a loading table that can be mounted either on the front or the back of the machine, hence creating the best possible accessibility for the operator. Furthermore, the CDI Advance can mount the EasyClamp drums (50"x80" and 42"x60") and has the SleeveOption with mandrel/drum exchange support. The latter two require minimal effort from the operator and guarantees, when dismantling and mounting, easy and all ergonomic access to the drum or mandrels. The CDI Advance comes with the Grapholas front-end. It accepts TIFF or LEN input file formats. With its easy-to-use, fully graphical user-interface and screen viewer, it allows for last minute changes, imposition, and executes unique flexo-dedicated features (plate usage optimization, sleeve support, seamless imaging, cut marks…).