Hanover, MA…May 17, 2005 -- The wide format graphics market generated total manufacturer revenues (at the retail level) of $7.3 billion in 2004 and is expected to generate manufacturer revenues of $10.1 billion in 2009, a CAGR of 7%. The market is becoming increasingly competitive as new product categories, such as eco solvent and flatbed ink jet printers, compete with aqueous and aggressive solvent ink jet printers for PFP volume and dollars. I.T. Strategies forecasts revenues for wide format ink jet hardware, media and ink for three primary technology categories: Aqueous, Solvent and Flatbed. Total wide format ink jet market revenues for hardware, media and chemistry are growing from $7.1 billion in 2004 to $10.1 billion in 2009, a CAGR of 7%. • Total wide format ink jet graphics hardware revenues will grow from $1.5 billion in 2004 to $1.6 billion in 2009, a CAGR of 1%. In terms of total market revenues, wide format ink jet hardware revenues will decrease from 21% in 2004 to 16% in 2009, driven down by continually declining hardware prices. • Total wide format ink jet media revenues will grow from $2.7 billion in 2004 to $3.8 billion in 2009, a CAGR of 7%. In terms of market revenues, media revenues will increase from 36% in 2004 to 38% in 2009 driven by the increasing use of high value specialty media such as vinyl, fabric, canvas, etc., as well as the increasing hardware installed base. • Total wide format ink jet ink revenues will grow from $3.1 billion in 2004 to $4.6 billion in 2009, a CAGR of 8% driven by the increasing installed base of printers. In terms of total market revenue, ink jet ink revenues will grow from 43% of total market revenues in 2004 to 46% in 2009. According to Liz Ziepniewski, senior consultant at I.T. Strategies, eco solvent and flatbed printers are having a big impact on both aqueous and aggressive solvent printers. “Eco solvent printers are growing at the expense of both high-end aqueous and aggressive solvent printers. Companies and print shops new to the market are purchasing eco solvent printers and using them as (relatively) low cost printers for both indoor and outdoor applications. This has halted the growth of the high-end aqueous market, as more indoor prints are now available for companies with eco solvent printers. It also has some impact on aggressive solvent printers because in the past, some of the companies purchasing eco solvent printers would outsource this type of product to a print provider with high-end solvent printers. High-end, UV-curable flatbed printers are being used to print directly on rigid substrates, thereby skipping the mounting process required when printing on roll printers. One of the largest flatbed applications today is POP printing. Many print shops with flatbed printers are shifting POP work from aqueous printers to flatbed printers in order to increase productivity by printing directly on rigid substrates. High-end flatbed printers are impacting the aggressive solvent sector by taking PFP dollars that might have been spent to purchase or upgrade an aggressive solvent printer.” Revenue Forecast Comparison by Print Segment Total wide format graphics revenues for hardware, media and chemistry are forecast to grow from $7.3 billion in 2004 to $10.1 billion in 2009, a CAGR of 7%. In 2004, 61% of wide format graphics revenues ($4.5 billion) were generated by aqueous printers. By 2009, aqueous printers, with total revenues of $4.6 billion, will decrease 46% of total market revenues. Solvent printers will increase from 34% of total market revenues ($2.5 billion) to 44% of revenues ($4.4 billion). Flatbed printers will grow from 4% of total market revenues ($317 million) in 2004 to 10% ($1 billion) in 2009.