ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 9, 2005 — Kodak's Graphic Communications Group (GCG) today announced two new digital presses, the KODAK NEXPRESS 2100 plus and KODAK NEXPRESS 2500 digital production color presses, which meet a variety of market needs from entry-level to very high-volume production environments. This new family of digital color presses features a highly modular platform for maximum configuration flexibility to adapt to the ever-changing commercial print market requirements. Customers are able to upgrade their presses as they grow their businesses with options to select desired paper capacity, increase processing capability, and add a fifth imaging unit to expand printing services. Enhanced substrate capabilities of the new presses also enable customers to deliver a wider range of applications. The new platform has been designed for even greater productivity and reliability, leveraging Kodak's award-winning digital production color press technology, and building on the renowned Kodak strengths of quality, consistency, reliability and uptime. “With the new NEXPRESS 2100 plus and 2500 digital color presses, print providers will never say no to customers, even those with the most challenging requirements. We've taken the notably reliable and productive digital high-volume color press to a new level of excellence,” said Venkat Purushotham, general manager and vice president, Digital Printing Solutions, GCG. “Customers around the world will benefit from these extremely productive solutions for high-volume color print production that they can customize to best meet their changing business needs — and that opens up an array of high-value print applications.” Print providers will benefit from the new modularity of the 2100 plus and 2500 presses and enhancements over the previous generation, which broaden the range of expansion and productivity options for added flexibility, including: •Selection of paper feeders can be added to grow the press capabilities as business expands. The paper capacity of the press ranges from 5,500 to a maximum of 11,000 sheet input capacity distributed over four different feeders, with non-stop feeding technology for greater throughput and overall productivity. •New high-capacity delivery system enables a pile height of 490 mm (19.3 in.), where paper can be stacked directly onto a mobile cart for convenient management of workflow. To support continuous running while unloading, the high-capacity delivery system comes with a second proof delivery with a capacity up to 50 mm (1.97 in.). •More processing power on the scaleable KODAK NEXSTATION IV front end, which enables superior performance for the most demanding applications. •Additional imaging unit enables delivery of spot color, watermarking and protective coating with the GATF InterTech Award-winning KODAK NEXPRESS fifth imaging unit solutions. The fifth imaging unit solutions also enable high-impact glossing in conjunction with the KODAK NEXGLOSSER glossing unit. •Extended paper-size capabilities allow customers to print larger applications, such as posters and book covers, given a 13 percent increase in substrate size, as well as smaller-sized applications. The maximum sheet size of 356 x 520 mm (14 x 20.5 in.) covers all major standard formats including the 35 x 50 cm offset format class, as well as legal and B3. •A wider range of substrate weights and thicknesses – including coated or uncoated paper, textured stocks, labels, synthetics and transparencies – enable new applications such as point of purchase signage, packaging, and direct mail pieces requiring less postage. Paper weights range from 60 g/m2 up to 350 g/m2 (16# bond up to 130# cover) up to a .4 mm thickness. •The new productivity optimizer mode dynamically adjusts image frame sizes during the printing process to provide maximum efficiency and throughput, with up to 83 percent improvement on some non-standard paper sizes. •New operator replaceable components (ORCs) are a significant element of the NexPress business model that empowers operators to manage the use of parts, control operating costs, and maximize uptime. •The NEXPRESS 2500 press offers exceptional productivity at 2500 A3 4/0 sheets per hour, significantly faster than the 2100 plus for high-volume commercial print providers, transaction printers and large in-plant print shops that require its heavy-duty, robust capabilities. Dual high-capacity delivery systems are available for the 2500 press. The NEXPRESS 2100 plus press is the perfect solution for entry-level printers new to the digital market, and has a standard configuration that includes the print engine with standard delivery. The NEXPRESS 2500 press is positioned as the performance model for high-volume production print environments with a standard configuration that includes the print engine with a high-capacity delivery. In addition to the new features common to both presses, the NEXPRESS 2500 press prints 2500 A3 4/0 sheets per hour and is 18% more productive than the 2100 plus. More modularity and flexibility has been engineered into the 2500, offering in-line finishing capability and longer uninterrupted printing cycles with multiple high-capacity delivery configurations. The modular options for both systems include an additional imaging unit, feeders, high-capacity delivery system and KODAK NEXSTATION IV front end. The NEXPRESS 2100 plus press is available in September 2005, and the NEXPRESS 2500 press will be available first quarter 2006. In the first quarter 2006, all features and functionality available on the NEXPRESS 2500 press can be added as upgrade options to the NEXPRESS 2100 plus press – even speed. There is no need for NexPress customers to trade-in to trade-up.