DIGITAL bytes

When asked about the most impressive printing technology they'd seen or heard about at IPEX, respondents gave digital dry ink (toner) presses the top spot, with digital offset and high-speed ink-jet printing systems ranked second and third, respectively. Surveyors questioned more than 300 people.

A similar survey at On Demand 2002 in New York found that 22 percent of respondents expect their own shop or place of employment to purchase a digital press this year. Another 10 percent classified a purchase as "probable." Looking a little further out, 41 percent of respondents believed half of a print shop's jobs will be printed digitally, as opposed to offset, in the next three to five years. A more bullish 14 percent expect digital production to account for 75 percent of print volumes, while 10 percent pegged digital's share at 90 percent in three to five years. (www.xerox.com)