Mortsel, Belgium and Amsterdam, The Netherlands – 28 March 2007 – Agfa Graphics and Epson announced today that they have strengthened their co-operation to bring integrated colour proofing solutions. The companies have agreed to co-market and co-brand the Epson Stylus Pro range of large-format printers and UltraChromeTM K3 proofing inks together with Agfa’s SherpaProof label :SherpaProof is available through Agfa’s distribution channel, which is the largest of any pre-press vendor. :SherpaProof has already achieved official certification with Fogra, SWOP and 3DAP, and can be integrated in any digital prepress workflow. “While we continue to develop and manufacture our own UV curable and other inks for the industrial printing market, we prefer Epson technology to complete our portfolio with certified printers and inks to offer a system that meets the requirements of the graphic arts industry for hard copy proofing,” said Agfa Graphics VP of marketing, Richard Barham. “The co-operation is beneficial for both companies and for our customers“ said Duncan Ferguson, Director of Pro-Graphics Marketing at Epson Europe. “With :SherpaProof solutions, printing companies gain the benefit of combined expertise from two technology leaders.” :SherpaProof is integrated in Agfa’s :ApogeeX prepress production software. It uses Agfa’s SherpaProof base on Agfa certified Epson Stylus Pro colour printers with Epson UltraChrome K3 inks for hard copy proofing.