We recently announced the new Kodak NexPress SE Digital Color Platform at the Print' 09 Media Days. Reflecting on the words in the press releases and looking at the competitive samples that we shared with the media, it is clear that all leading digital press suppliers are providing products with outstanding quality and performance. This is true in comparison with each other and with the benchmarks of offset and even photo printing. All the leading suppliers have been investing diligently to tackle the great influx of new digital pages over the last three to four years. Unfortunately, we all seem to be using the same words to describe our products- 'great quality, best productivity'- and so how do print providers begin to sort through their options?

From a customer communication view, our challenge is to move beyond the sameness of the words to demonstrate why the NexPress SE Class is such an innovation in print quality, productivity and capability. Proving the point with print examples is one very effective means. We did just that at the Print '09 Media Days and you'll see the samples again at Print '09. The reactions from those in attendance ranged from surprise at the boldness of laying our samples side by side with competitors to clear pleasure at viewing the hard evidence that we mean what we're saying about quality and capability.

Looking at one print and not an entire print run, however, can be a misleading exercise. That is where the words and comments from our customers speak for us. SE Class components were part of an extensive field trial worldwide and through the use of video shorts, we're beginning to capture customer testimony about the quality, productivity and flexibility they now see. The result is more compelling than some wordsmithed PR piece. While polish may be lacking, the sentiments are genuine. Combining real-world print samples and technical analysis with real customer feedback is a potent mix.

The goals of the SE Class solution are to help our print customers achieve greater profitability by delivering unique and differentiated applications with unconstrained productivity at an offset class quality and capability level. As digital printing press buyers evolve and mature from innovators and early adopters to the early majority, the reasons for buying a digital press are changing. These repeat and new customers are now purchasing solutions first and foremost to achieve profitability- not just to be the first shop with a digital gizmo. Productivity is essential to profitability, but productivity is much more than speed. Productivity is reliability, print quality, throughput, uptime and, most importantly, application range. More, high value applications mean more revenue opportunity and more margin for our customers.

The SE-class strengthens these NexPress benchmark advantages against other offerings on the market while retaining the unique capability to print a wide range of profitable applications. One look at the samples of our award-winning Kodak NexPress Dimensional Printing and you can easily see what we mean by 'unique and differentiated'. In addition, our standard Clear Dry Ink provides in-line, full speed coating and watermarking and, with the Kodak NexPress Glossing Unit, creates beautifully glossed material without the waste and recyclability concerns of lamination of other coatings.

What do you think about the first model from the SE Class lineup?

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