NEW YORK--March 9, 2004-- Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. and a leader in networked imaging solutions, today announced several significant product additions and new features for the Canon imageRUNNER product line and for Print On Demand (POD) environments. Among the value-added POD additions are the Coverbind/Bindomatic in-line solution and the Smartboard 3.0 digital prepress software unveiled today at Canon booth #3105 at the AIIM / On Demand show in New York, an annual showcase of digital imaging technology innovation and strategic vision. Another notable development is the introduction of Canon ColorPASS-Z7400 and Canon ColorPASS-Z800, next-generation digital color servers that were jointly developed with EFI. "Canon partners with world-class POD technology solution companies adding value to Canon technology and bringing our customers an ever-expanding array of products suited for high production printing environments," said Dennis Amorosano, director and general manager, Production Systems Division, Canon U.S.A. "Through the implementation of these new products, customers can significantly impact throughput, be more productive, and support a wider array of On Demand applications." Coverbind/Bindomatic in-line solution The Coverbind 301 can be connected in-line with the Canon imageRUNNER 110 and imageRUNNER Pro150+ printers, and binds documents at the rated printer speeds. Simply by selecting the finishing option on the printer, the Coverbind 301 automatically jogs, binds and delivers the document ready to distribute. The two cassette trays can hold 300 covers, and the second feed drawer can be loaded while the machine is running. The binder device runs on a standard 110 Volt 10 amp power source, and does not require trimming or ventilation. Canon offers the HPI interface kit that makes the connection possible. Coverbind 301 will be available May 2004. SmartBoard 3.0 software availability Canon U.S.A. will be one of only two national distributors of Heidelberg Digital's new SmartBoard 3.0 software, the latest version of workflow software (formerly known as IMAGESMART DOCUMENT MASTERING(TM) software) for digital high-volume print production devices. Appropriate for both digital color and digital black-and-white document assembly, the Smartboard 3.0 employs an industry-standard PDF-based workflow that enables an array of expanded capabilities for complex production jobs, including job set-up, image editing, more page features, batch printing and integrated paper catalog management. SmartBoard 3.0 will be available late second quarter 2004. New CLC Offset Stacker B1 The CLC Offset Stacker B1 is a welcome new professional finishing option for high-volume color printing. Bundled with the high-performance CLC5100 production printing system, the 3,000-sheet capacity CLC Offset Stacker B1 makes set separation fast by stacking printed sets in an offset manner for easy transfer to offline finishing devices. New CLC Offset Stacker B1 will be available in earlt second quarter 2004. EFI Digital Storefront Express Availability Digital StoreFront Express is a web-to-print system that allows print centers to serve customers via a robust, personalized interactive Intranet and/or Internet presence 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A simple interface allows print customers to submit digital files from their PC or Macintosh computers, view PDF proofs of their documents for immediate review and approval, and easily enter their own job specifications for production and finishing. Once that information is entered, Digital StoreFront Express creates a job ticket and the file is automatically submitted into the print center's workflow, billing systems, print servers and output devices. EFI's Digital Storefront Express will be available in April 2004. PrintShop Mail Fiery Version Atlas Software, Inc.'s PrintShop Mail - Fiery Version turns personalized variable data printing from Canon's CLC 4000 and 5100 into a quick one-step process. The software enables information from databases to be inserted into design layouts simply by dragging and dropping in the database fields. During the printing process, the static portion of the job is RIPped once and the variable elements from the database are sent to the printer on the fly - greatly shortening printing times and decreasing network congestion. PrintShop Mail Fiery Version is currently available. PageFlex Persona Fiery Version PageFlex Persona - Fiery Version is a sophisticated authoring tool designed for demanding, large-scale variable print projects with unsurpassed personalization. One of the industry's first variable content design applications to support Personalized Page Markup Language (PPML), the software is suited for volume production of customized sales and marketing collateral. PageFlex Persona Fiery Version is currently available. Canon ColorPASS-Z7400 Canon's flagship server-class ColorPASS-Z7400, developed in partnership with EFI, delivers a quantum increase in power to high-level production printing environments. With unmatched color output, extensive variable data printing support, and the EFI Fiery Graphic Arts Package combined with production automation and workflow management features, the ColorPASS-Z7400 is at the forefront of the next-generation of digital color servers. The industry leading performance results from the extremely fast architecture, which features dual Pentium 4 Xeon 2.8 GHz processors, RAID 0 data striping on dual 160GB ATA-100 hard drives, and 1 GB of standard memory. Canon ColorPASS-Z7400 is currently available. Canon ColorPASS-Z800 Designed in conjunction with EFI, the Canon ColorPASS-Z800 maintains the color integrity of even the largest graphics files, making it the ideal hub for a printing and scanning network. Built for graphic professionals, the ColorPASS-Z800 offers the latest color management and quality control tools, including Canon's standard Graphic Arts Feature Set. The ColorPASS-Z800 connects seamlessly to any Canon CLC 1100 Series device to offer a complete color imaging system. The architecture features a Pentium 4 2.0GHz processor, a 60GB HD, and 256 MB of RAM. Canon ColorPASS-Z800 is currently available.