IBT Global Chooses the Xeikon 6000 Digital Color Press for Automated Book Production

TROY, NY/ITASCA, IL— January 14, 2008—Integrated Book Technology (also known as IBT Global or IBT), a leader in digital book manufacturing, has chosen the Xeikon 6000 digital color press to further enhance its book production capabilities.

IBT specializes in the production of technical, scientific, medical, professional, scholarly and school textbooks for some of the leading book publishers in the USA and Europe. Since its inception in 1991, IBT has always been at the forefront of developing and utilizing digital book production technology.

According to Mr. William J. Clockel, Partner and Chief Technology Officer, IBT, “Our primary focus is to provide value-added offerings to our book publishing customers, throughout the lifecycle of a book. In order to achieve this goal, we have always invested in the best-of-class technologies. Our decision to choose the Xeikon 6000 digital color press with an inline cutting, stacking and coveying system for the automated production of book blocks is another siginificant step in this direction.”

According to Carl Dunaway, VP-Sales, Xeikon/Punch Graphix, “Unlike the other digital color presses, the Xeikon 6000 does not have any frame or sheet size restrictions. It has a web width of 20” and virtually no restriction on the length of the printed page. This format flexibility allows the Xeikon 6000 to produce a higher number book blocks during a specific print run compared to the competitive offerings.” Depending upon the page size, these book blocks can be produced 1-up, 2-up or even 3-up on the Xeikon 6000, enabling users to achieve higher production volumes and economies of scale while reducing production costs.

Apart from its format flexibility, the Xeikon 6000 has an unparalleled speed of 170 letter- size pages per minute and duty cycle of almost 5,000,000 pages per month. It handles paper stocks from 27 lb text (40 gsm) to122 lb cover (16-pt. board), providing a range of substrate options to its users. The Xeikon 6000 is also the only digital color press that prints on both sides of the substrate in a single pass (One-Pass-DuplexTM technology). In addition, Xeikon’s X-800 Digital Front-End and Pantone®-licensed Form Adapted (FA) toner technology deliver outstanding quality and cutting-edge workflow management tools for a streamlined book production workflow. All these capabilities make the Xeikon 6000 a perfect fit for IBT’s applications.

“We are always on the look out for technologies that enable us to expand our services and value proposition. Being able to provide color solutions to the educational, custom and professional trade market further enhances our ability to provide bottom line solutions that our customers need. Allowing our customers to produce color books in short counts or on demand helps our publishing customers to be economical, minimize book returns and reduce risk. We will continue to push the digital book technology envelope to help our customers grow their business,” concludes Mr. Clockel.

About IBT Global

Integrated Book Technology, also known as IBT or IBT Global, combines page composition, data and archival services, as well as the latest manufacturing technology to create a unified home for your intellectual property. From our digital library we prepare publishers for “Life of Title Manufacturing”, a true womb to tomb solution using various print engines. Versatile uses of your database and preparation for the next technology is at the core of our business plan.

As we know it today, we produce the widest variety of quantities digitally (1-2,500 copies) using our Distribute and Print strategy to make the right quantity as close to your customer or warehouse as possible. IBT offers complete paperback and case-binding capability in the U.S and U.K. As the “book” evolves we are prepared to help publishers integrate the electronic options that the technology makes available.

With a commitment since 1991 to apply practical uses of technology to publishers’ business models, our goal is to add extended value and opportunity. Our team of highly technical manufacturing and publishing people wades through the technology of today and finds practical money-making applications for publishers.

About Punch Graphix
Punch Graphix provides innovative, competitive and environmental friendly imaging and printing solutions for the global graphics industry. Under the Xeikon brand name, Punch Graphix designs, develops and delivers high-end digital color printing systems, software and consumables for the commercial, document printing and industrial markets. Under the basysPrint brand, Punch Graphix designs, develops and delivers mid to high-end imaging systems for the offset prepress commercial markets. With a clear- minded focus on R&D, Punch Graphix is dedicated to customer satisfaction and aims to deliver cost-effective graphic excellence that goes beyond all expectations.

www.punchgraphix.com