Itasca, IL & Baltimore, MD- February 4, 2005 - Xeikon America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Punch International, announces the purchase of five Xeikon 5000 digital color presses by Baltimore, MD based Vertis -- a premier direct marketing provider of targeted advertising, media, and marketing services. No stranger to Xeikon products, Vertis has been producing various direct mail, digital one-to-one marketing, and fulfillment pieces on 6 Xeikon-based engines for several years. According to Kristof Vereenooghe, President, Xeikon America, "Vertis has a significantly large print run and direct mail requirement. After looking in the market place at the complete range of various digital engine vendors, the new generation Xeikon engines had the capability to meet the round-the-clock production needs of Vertis and the ability to deliver a quality product, from a file and print standpoint." Vertis' decision to upgrade to the Xeikon 5000s was also based on the ability of the 5000 and the X-800 Digital Front End (DFE) to meet the company's stringent production specifications. "We chose the Xeikon 5000 because we know Xeikon well," said Tom Dyson, vice president of sales and technical services for Vertis. "It is the only equipment vendor that is solely focused on high-volume digital color printing. We were impressed by the development of spot color and MICR applications by Xeikon as well as its new back-end Print Protector." The Xeikon 5000 is the first digital color press which really succeeds in combining the best of both worlds: consistent and high image quality both for short print runs as well as for runs of several million copies plus unparalleled productivity. It can process volumes of up to 3 million A4 color pages a month with ease. The Xeikon 5000 also scores particularly high in terms of user friendliness and efficiency: toner can be added during a print run, press registration and calibration are automated and paper changes are simplified thanks to the improved mechanism for changing and cutting substrates. The Xeikon 5000 has a fifth color station as a standard feature and is capable of printing on an exceptionally wide range of substrate weights from 27 lb. text to 16 pt. stock, making it suitable for even the most diverse applications. The new digital front end, the X-800, offers an enhanced toolbox for rapid and optimum workflow automation and integration resulting from the implementation of open standards. The X-800 has been developed with high productivity in mind: the controller is able to easily process print jobs incorporating complex graphics with variable data from over 1 million records. "The Xeikon 5000 enhances Vertis' capabilities and client services by further decreasing time-to-market, shortening production cycles, and improving quality," adds Dyson.