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EFI - 12/20/2006
EFI Announces New, Expanded Distribution Agreement with Pitman /
Charrette Company for Commercial Print Market
Foster City, Calif. - December 20, 2006 - EFI (Nasdaq: EFII), the world leader in color digital print servers,
superwide format printers and inks, and print management solutions, formally announced a new distribution
agreement with the Pitman/Charrette Company, the leader in packaging and commercial print. This new
agreement will enable Pitman /Charrette to market and sell VUTEk® superwide digital format printers and the
Fiery® XF production RIP in the North American commercial print and display graphics marketplaces.
The Pitman Company, with more than a century of service, is the leading independent North American graphic
arts industry supplier. In July of 2006, Pitman acquired Charrette, the leading provider of digital and traditional
imaging supplies, equipment, and services to the graphics, corporate, and technical design marketplaces, and
the largest provider of wide-format inkjet equipment, supplies, and services in the U.S. The Pitman sales force
will focus on introducing these offerings to the commercial print market, long its stronghold, while its subsidiary,
Charrette, will be able to expand its offerings in the graphics, corporate, and technical design marketplaces
where it already has a significant presence. By leveraging the consolidated Pitman/Charrette team, EFI will
significantly expand its ability to address these markets.
"This is a natural fit for us. The combination of EFI's VUTEk printers, their industry-leading Fiery RIPs, color
management and color profiling software, coupled with our sales and technical ability in both Pitman and
Charrette, will provide a strong offering for customers moving into wide format digital printing," stated Pitman's
president, Joe Demharter. "The powerful blend of Pitman, Charrette and EFI stands to bring significant new
revenue generating opportunities to our broad customer base, particularly among commercial printers looking to
meet their customers’ growing need for superwide format output."
EFI's VUTEk product line is recognized as best-in-class superwide format printer technology. EFI offers 15
different VUTEk printer models, ranging from 5 feet wide to 16.5 feet wide, to meet the needs of almost any
wide or superwide format application.
Fred Rosenzweig, EFI president, stated, "We are delighted to expand our relationship with Pitman/Charrette to
include our portfolio of VUTEk superwide format inkjet printers and inks. Together, we can help commercial
printing and sign companies more easily accommodate their customers’ growing need for sign and display work.
We look forward to building on our long-term relationship."
Jim Lally, Charrette’s director of marketing, added, "Charrette has placed a large number of solvent-based printers
in the marketplace, and VUTEk printers are a natural transition for many of these customers as they look to
upgrade their capabilities. In addition, with EFI’s recent release of VUTEk BioVu ink, the first solvent-based ink
made from a renewable resource (corn) and the only one recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), we can now offer our customers a high speed, high quality solvent solution that is completely
environmentally friendly."
www.efi.com
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