Hudson, NH – May 30, 2008 – Presstek, Inc., the leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing business solutions, today announced an alliance with EskoArtwork, a world leader in workflow solutions for the packaging and printing industry. Under the agreement, Presstek will offer EskoArtwork’s Odystar workflow solution under the Presstek Latitude brand name to its large and growing global customer base. Presstek will also reference-sell other EskoArtwork products into its customer base, which will further expand Presstek’s workflow offerings for medium to large-size printing businesses.

This announcement is part of Presstek’s continuing plan to build a product portfolio that provides high quality fully integrated digital solutions and services in order to form all-encompassing relationships with our customers. Presstek Latitude will be demonstrated at drupa 2008, starting on May 29th in Düsseldorf, Germany, and will be available from Presstek in the third quarter of 2008.

“As our customers grow their businesses and as we bring our digital offset solutions into larger printing businesses, it is important for Presstek to offer a range of workflow alternatives,” said Jeff Jacobson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Presstek. “We are pleased to be offering advanced workflow solutions from such a well-respected company as EskoArtwork. We look forward to expanding this important relationship in the future.”

Presstek Latitude, the first product to be launched as a result of this partnership, is a highly automated prepress workflow, powered by EskoArtwork, that streamlines throughput and processing of files. Its flexible workflow tools allow the automation of more production processes. Presstek Latitude supports native PDF 1.7 format and the latest standards in JDF and Certified PDF.  JDF job tickets can be initiated by an MIS system sending JDF/JMF to the workflow and utilized throughout the production process to reduce the need for human intervention. Presstek Latitude contains a wide range of prepress tools including EskoArtwork Neo, an advanced PDF editor that easily accommodates last minute changes. Its advanced screening technologies, state-of-the-art trapping tool, and integrated imposition options ensure high quality, efficiency and productivity.

“This partnership with Presstek provides us with improved access to Presstek’s broad customer base,” said Guido Van der Schueren, Chief Commercial Officer of EskoArtwork. “EskoArtwork has a strong reputation in production workflows in the graphic arts Industry. Latitude is based on a proven EskoArtwork workflow solution and is ideally suited to complement the automation already delivered by Presstek’s digital offset printing solutions by extending that automation further into the enterprise. Latitude not only drastically increases productivity in a prepress production environment, but is equally suited for remote generation of highly robust, production-ready PDF files, at advertising and design agencies, document generators, or facilities management sites. We view the introduction of Latitude as the first step in what we hope will be a long and enduring partnership and look forward to exploring other opportunities as we both work to extend our market reach.”
   
Presstek: A Smarter Way to Print
Presstek adds Presstek Latitude to its robust portfolio of digital offerings. This includes the highly automated, environmentally friendly Presstek 52DI and 34DI digital offset presses that are ideally suited for fast turnaround, short-run high-quality color printing. These easy-to-use DI presses support up to 300 lpi printing and stochastic (FM) screening without incurring additional time or expense. In addition, the DI handles a wide range of substrates from onion skin to heavy card stock, as well as synthetics. The DI, available in two format sizes: 52 cm landscape and 34 cm portrait, delivers sellable color within 10 minutes at the lowest cost per sheet at run lengths of 250 to 10,000.

“We also expect our chemistry-free CTP customers to benefit from this alliance,” added Jacobson, “Presstek chemistry-free solutions produce daylight-safe metal plates that deliver more jobs in the same amount of time by automating key steps and by eliminating time-consuming manual prepress procedures. By combining the automation inherent in Presstek’s digital offset business solutions with the robust capabilities offered by Presstek Latitude, print service providers will be well-positioned to meet the ever-changing market demands in this dynamic environment.”

Presstek Latitude now joins Presstek’s workflow offerings for an expanded arsenal of tools that meet a wider range of printing efficiency needs for small to large-size printing businesses.