WAKE FOREST, N.C. -- Southern Lithoplate, Inc., a leading manufacturer of digital and analog lithoplates and related products for newspaper and commercial printing, will announce during the opening session of NEXPO 2007 the launch of Rapid ROI CtP, an exclusive CtP Systems Solution introduced as part of the Southern Lithoplate CtP Alliance Solution. Rapid ROI is driven by best-in-class products designed specially for Southern Lithoplate's core newspaper customers with dramatically reduced component prices from workflow to platesetter to punch registration. To demonstrate the power of this offer, Southern Lithoplate provides a financial calculator built by news industry production and financial executives that calculates traditional Break Even, ROI and IRR (internal rate of return) values. The Rapid ROI program features the new fully automated Screen PlateRite News 2000 LE platesetter and VIPER 830(r) thermal lithoplates, exclusively available from Southern Lithoplate. The program also includes special Rapid ROI prices on the affordable new NELA Benchmark V vision punch/bender, as well as the new Introflo workflow management software from Polkadots Software Inc. Additional show discounts are available for Presteligence's NewsXtreme SN, ProImage America's Blaze and Screen USA's Trueflow Rite News workflow. "Southern Lithoplate's Rapid ROI program aligns reliable VIPER 830 lithoplates, the foremost CtP lithoplate for newspapers in North America, with a wide variety of exceptional partners throughout the industry to ensure that Alliance customers receive great value from their solutions," said Edward A. "Trip" Casson III, chairman and CEO. "It brings together the advantages of technologically advanced prepress systems in the most cost-effective, efficient and productive way." Beginning at 10 a.m. on April 21 in booth #1959, the heart of NEXPO's CtP Alliance Pavilion, Casson will highlight each of the Alliance partner's components and the structure for the different workflow configurations within the Rapid ROI program. Integrated 24/7 Support System A core element of Rapid ROI CtP is an ultracompetitive and cost-effective integrated response service between Southern Lithoplate and Screen (USA), available around the clock, seven days a week for PlateRite News 2000 customer partners. "Southern Lithoplate's commitment to the news market remains at the heart of the CtP Alliance Solution," Casson said. "As the leading supplier to the North American newspaper market, we fully understand what our newspaper partners need. We are driven to enable our newspaper customers to beat deadlines, maximize production efficiencies and also accomplish positive impact on company margins. By adding the Rapid ROI program in tandem with our Integrated 24/7 CtP Support System, the Alliance provides the very best in products, programs and service." Savings in time and materials The CtP Alliance Solution enables newspaper companies and publishers to automate labor-intensive prepress tasks and eliminate conventional film and plate making and its cost of capital, consumables and time. Rapid ROI CtP provides prepress systems that are tailored to individual customer needs and priced for low cost of ownership, while facilitating investment optimization. The Alliance workflow packages enable newspapers to realize a fast return on investment through increased operational efficiencies and reduced manual labor costs, in addition to improved production accuracy, automated routing procedures and immediate communication with customers and employees. Capital costs reduced with the new PlateRite News 2000 LE at fantastic pricing The truly affordable PlateRite News 2000 LE, exclusively available through Southern Lithoplate, is the benchmark for entry-level laser diode CtP platesetters for newspaper prepress. The PlateRite News 2000 LE combines a compact footprint with pinpoint thermal production. The unit is completely self-serviceable and comes with built-in redundancy. The PlateRite News 2000 LE accommodates plates from 11.4 x 18.1 inches to 38.5 x 26.9 inches. The 32-channel laser diode head images 26 to 30 doublewide plates per hour. A choice of single-cassette or multiple-cassette automated loading systems with built-in processor bridge answers the need for unattended operation. The PlateRite's output capacity can be upgraded on-site to meet future production requirements. Replacing certain key parts on the base engine upgrades the entry-level machine to a high-productivity model capable of imaging 42 doublewide plates per hour. The affordable NELA Benchmark V custom designed for Southern Lithoplate's core newspaper customers for Rapid ROI The NELA Benchmark V punch/bender, designed to meet the needs of Southern Lithoplate's core newspaper customer base, allows newspaper operations to enjoy the same vision register technology as the VCP model at an attractive price. It is the ideal automatic optical punch/bender for punching and bending VIPER 830 lithoplates imaged on the PlateRite News 2000 LE. The Benchmark V handles multiple bend configurations and plate sizes. It features CCD cameras, remote access for troubleshooting and automatic plate infeed for landscape or portrait plate formats. Vision alignment delivers precise four-color register. NEWSflo Intro offers all features a user requires Polkadots Software, a prepress workflow developer committed to supplying cost-effective, flexible and highly productive database-driven workflow solutions, presents an extremely affordable, yet powerful PDF workflow in NEWSflo Intro. NEWSflo Intro, the entry-level automated newspaper production workflow, automates the process of downloading, renaming, RIPing, sorting and pairing two-up and four-up pages for output. Other features include automatic trapping, preflighting and soft proofing. Authorized users can manage workflow remotely from the web browser-based user interface. NEWSflo Intro brings the security of true Rip Once Output Many (ROOM) to all levels of newspaper production. The workflow software is designed to interpret the data once and render it as many times as needed for multiple output devices, such as digital proofing systems and platesetters. The ROOM concept guarantees that the printed version will always match the proof. NewsWay Blaze streamlines prepress ProImage's NewsWay Blaze is an easy-to-install and easy-to-use workflow solution. Blaze accepts PDF and PostScript images. It performs edition planning and tracking, page pairing and real-time production monitoring anytime and anywhere via standard web browsers. The pairing module supports broadsheet, tabloid, two-up and four-up formats. The ROOM feature provides powerful control and accuracy. NewsXtreme SN designed for efficient, high-speed throughput Presteligence designed NewsXtreme SN to maximize throughput with minimal manual intervention. Production is automatically routed through the workflow based on simple, customizable rules. The step-by-step wizard allows users without programming skills to maintain the system. NewsXtreme SN accepts and manages standard file formats. It supports product planning, flexible page pairing, imposition, load balancing and soft proofing with approval. Its browser-based interface affords centralized management of prod uction. Trueflow Rite News optimizes plate output Screen's Trueflow Rite News features PDF-based RIP operation, trapping and additional automated workflow functions that are perfectly suited to newspapers looking to capture a share of the commercial market, too. It accepts PostScript, standard PDF and 1-bit TIFF files. Imposed PDF and PostScript data can be used in job files. With the optional imposition module, Trueflow Rite News can rename files, impose pages, print proofs and provide late-page replacement. With the optional modules for CIP3/4 PPF ink-k ey preset data, press ink-key information can be automatically sent to the press or printed for manual key input for automating production operations. At NEXPO 2007, the Southern Lithoplate workflow Alliance, within the CtP Alliance Pavilion, is the market's best-in-class collection of workflow resources that provides maximum flexibility and compatibility with any legacy environment. Regardless of your current configuration and your future needs, the Southern Lithoplate workflow Alliance partners have the solution you need.