VersaMark Vantage Delivers Business Color Technology To New Segments of Market Previously Underserved Affordable Business Color Creates Advantage for Printers BIRMINGHAM, England, April 12 -- Scitex Digital Printing today unveiled its first digital color printing system for under $1 million at IPEX 2002, the international exhibition on print, publishing, and digital media in Birmingham, England. The new Scitex VersaMark Vantage offers a new printing choice for segments of the commercial printing industry that previously had found digital color printing systems unaffordable. At a news conference at IPEX announcing the product, Scitex Digital Printing President and CEO Nachum "Homi" Shamir said, "With this new printing system and product, we are touching a new segment of the market and following a new concept in digital color printing: We are demonstrating that commercial digital color printing does not have to be expensive. It is, in fact, affordable." The VersaMark Vantage, which is the first Scitex color digital printing system priced under $1 million, targets commercial printers who seek an affordable solution to combining the benefits of digital color printing and the flexibility of variable data for one-to-one direct mailings, personalized billing and transaction statements, and individualized, on-demand printing for books and catalogs. "Our vision is to be recognized as the global leader in high speed, color printing solutions," said Shamir. "We have developed the first full-color digital press to have per-page costs similar to those of offset printing. That's a technological breakthrough; it's also a business breakthrough. We now offer digital color printing technology - 100 percent variable data combined with full process color - that reliably delivers print speed and image quality in a business model that makes economic sense. It's affordable." At the news conference, Shamir also explained that low operating costs and per page costs should continue to attract a wider audience to which the Scitex technology in Business Color appeals. "We will continue to deliver solutions that are fully cost effective and very similar to the cost of offset printing, but that also offer the advantage of variable data and digital color." Shamir indicated that another VersaMark product, offering speeds nearly three times as fast as the Vantage, would be introduced later this year. The new VersaMark Vantage was developed at Scitex Digital Printing's R&D and manufacturing facility located at its Kettering, Ohio, headquarters. The technology in the VersaMark Vantage product involves a proprietary printing technology developed by Scitex Digital Printing known as Continuous Inkjet Printing. It utilizes a very fine, nearly microscopic stream of ink that is separated into droplets of predictable size; selected droplets then are deflected by an electrostatic charge directly onto the paper or other substrates to create an image. Looking ahead, Shamir pointed to growth in traditional markets as well as new areas in the industry, which will be attacked with products such as the VersaMark Vantage. "Our business strategies are focused on securing and extending our core business - scalable, inkjet technology and inks that serve the addressing, direct mail, commercial and lottery printers," Shamir said. "From that core, we are extending into new markets with Business Color such as data centers, packaging, and even newspapers. We see applications ranging from personalized direct mail with variable text and graphics, to billing statements with personalized messaging, to books with spot color, and mailings with individualized, color messaging." Scitex research indicates color printing is 55 percent more likely to be read first compared to black and white printing, in part because color grabs attention and conveys a sense of importance and urgency. Studies also have shown that color on invoices improves response time by as much as 30 percent and color increases the likelihood of buying a product by more than 80 percent. For customized direct mail, the use of color improves response rates on average by more than 20 percent. Shamir concluded by pointing to Scitex Digital Printing's heritage of invention and innovation as integral to the company's growth strategy. "We played a pioneering role in the development of digital printing and that heritage is also a foundation for our future success. Business Color is supported by technology that has spawned more than 300 patents worldwide. Through technology and innovation, we will continue to focus on extending our core business technology, delivering higher image resolution, faster print speeds, and total workflow solutions for our customers." Scitex Digital Printing, Inc. is a world leader in ultra-high-speed digital printing solutions with over 5,000 system installations worldwide and in a variety of applications ranging from addressing, personalization and variable messaging, to direct mail and short-run book printing and bill and statement printing. The company's products include the VersaMark high- resolution page printing systems and the Dijit range of narrow format printers.