Canon U.S.A. to Resell Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite 2007 from Bitstream
Agreement enables Canon’s extensive dealer channels to provide customers with robust variable data and cross media publishing capabilities.

Boston, MA — April 17, 2007 — Canon U.S.A., Inc. (NYSE:CA, www.usa.canon.com,), and Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS, www.bitstream.com and www.pageflex.com, booth), the leading provider of variable data and Web-to-print software for personalized marketing, today announced an agreement under which Canon will make available Pageflex™ Persona™ Cross Media Suite through the imagePRESS Workflow Solutions program for use with the new Canon imagePRESS C7000VP digital press. Persona, a desktop software package, enables the creation of database-driven variable data print (VDP) and personalized HTML emails. It offers a robust feature set typically not found in a desktop VDP product. 

Through this distribution agreement sales representatives from across all Canon Authorized Dealers will be able to sell Persona to customers looking to produce personalized and customized print and HTML email communications. Bitstream initially joined Canon U.S.A.'s Imaging Systems Group (ISG) Alliance and Industry Marketing (AIM) program in 2005 and has been participating in the imagePRESS Workflow Solutions program since it was announced at Graph Expo last year.

Canon's new high-end color production engine, the imagePRESS C7000VP, is targeted at the production and commercial print sectors, traditional primary markets for Persona. Pageflex Persona also brings variable data and cross media capabilities to users of Canon imageRUNNER® and CLC® products enabling customers to get the most value from their Canon products. Poised to revolutionize digital printing, Canon’s imagePRESS C7000VP digital press will deliver consistent print speed at 70 pages-per-minute (ppm) for letter-sized output in color regardless of the weight of the media combining productivity with offset image quality output.

Persona enables imagePRESS C7000VP owners to achieve increased press usage and profitability by providing easy-to-learn, and yet full featured, VDP capability. Additionally Persona’s cross media capabilities and ability to submit projects—both print and HTML—to the Pageflex server and Pageflex Storefront products extends the opportunities for imagePRESS C7000VP owners to secure additional business from existing and new customers.

Persona, as part of the Pageflex product line, was the first VDP application to be certified as a PPML Producer by the Print On Demand Initiative (PODi), the premier industry association focused solely on the digital print market. PPML (personalized print markup language) is an XML-based print language standard developed by PODi. PPML enables printers to efficiently produce personalized high-volume print communications by caching re-usable design and image elements. Persona produces PPML, as well as PostScript and PDF, for digital presses, including the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP.

“As printers are becoming marketing service providers for their customers the ability to develop and provide multi-channel marketing campaigns that use demographic targeting to drive response rates is becoming as important as their production and printing capabilities,” says Janet Cain, director and assistant general manager, Production Systems Division, Imaging Systems Group, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “The personalization and cross media capabilities of Pageflex Persona provide imagePRESS customers with the ability to offer additional value added services to their customers and create new revenue streams for their business.”

“We are delighted to have Canon USA resell Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite,” says Anna Chagnon, Bitstream CEO. “This agreement enhances our existing long-term relationship with Canon and underscores our commitment to supporting digital printers who need a desktop VDP application with advanced customization and cross media capabilities. With Canon’s extensive dealer channels, we have high expectations for their ability to proliferate Persona in the marketplace.”

Canon and Pageflex are demonstrating Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite this week in the Canon booth (#1400) and the Pageflex booth (#701) at the On Demand Conference and Exposition in Boston. In a joint demonstration the companies are showing Persona producing PPML output of highly-customized 16-page booklets based on travel excursion information in a database. The booklets are being printed on the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP digital press.  Exhibition attendees can take home printed samples of the vacation booklets, which demonstrate a wide gamut of image, color, and ink coverage, as well as substantial content variation from booklet to booklet.

Canon expects to begin selling Persona this summer.