HUDSON, N.H., Sept. 8 -- Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of environmentally responsible high tech digital imaging solutions for the graphic arts and laser imaging markets, today announced the release of new research conducted by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, a leading worldwide market research and strategic consulting firm for the digital imaging and document solutions industry. This independent study was designed to determine how the implementation of a new generation DI press impacts the overall business of a new user. "We commissioned respected research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures to perform this study on our behalf in order to ensure that our current DI product portfolio was meeting customer requirements, and to gain a better understanding of future product enhancements customers may require," said Peter Bouchard, Presstek Vice President of Marketing. "The research revealed that owners of ProFire and ProFire Excel enabled DI presses are able to benefit from increased profit levels, reduce their makeready times and capitalize on the capabilities of the ProFire-enabled DI press to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, facilitating business growth with both new and existing customers." Presstek-enabled Direct Imaging (DI) presses combine the convenience of digital printing with quality and economic benefits that are better than offset printing. Featuring the most significant innovation to Direct Imaging presses since the inception of digital offset technology, these new presses incorporate Presstek's ProFire Excel Imaging optimized with Presstek's new ProFire Digital Media, generating a 16-micron laser spot, enabling 300-line- per-inch output with support for FM (Stochastic) and hybrid screening options. InfoTrends/CAP Ventures conducted in-depth surveys with more than 50 owners of ProFire and ProFire Excel enabled DI presses marketed by Ryobi, Kodak and KBA. 58% of respondents were commercial printers and 16% were digital print specialists. 72% of respondents had less than 20 employees and 86% were shops with less than $3 million in revenues. Key research findings included: * DI printing enables growth in both existing and new customers * DI has allowed the print provider to produce applications they couldn't previously produce * DI printing has had a direct, positive impact on other printing services Additionally, respondents reported: * 75% of DI work is produced in 3 days or less compared to 66% for all work in respondents' shops * The mean number of finished press sheets produced on DIs per month by respondents was 271,500, and an average of 5.6 jobs per shift are being produced on DI presses. * It requires less than half of the time to produce a sellable sheet on a DI Press than on a conventional offset press * Job profitability is more than 13% higher on a DI press in comparison to conventional offset. In achieving these results, the majority of respondents were producing run lengths from 250 to 9,999 on their DI presses, accommodating the decreased run lengths and reduced turnaround times they were facing in a growing number of print jobs. Additionally, respondents anticipated a 27.5% increase in revenue generated by their DI presses over the next two years. "As printing industry dynamics continue to change and printers are increasingly challenged to do more faster and with less, these new DI presses are achieving important business goals of improving productivity and opening new market opportunities for their owners," said Charlie Corr, Group Director of InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. "This research confirms our earlier findings that owners of DI presses are operating more profitably than their conventional offset counterparts, and further indicates that newer presses enabled by Presstek's ProFire and ProFire Excel technology are delivering the value their buyers expected to receive."