PHILADELPHIA -- Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) today launched the 50 page-per-minute DocuColor™ 5000 Digital Press, the industry's first digital color press to address the needs of print operations that have mid-range monthly print volumes and that require more advanced printing features.

The digital printing press, one of several new offerings designed to further bolster Xerox's industry-leading color printing portfolio, will be unveiled at the AIIM/On Demand print industry trade show.

"The productivity and price of the new DocuColor 5000 opens up new opportunities in the mid-production segment and extends Xerox's leadership," said Jim Hamilton, director of InfoTrends' On Demand Printing & Publishing Consulting Service. "The DocuColor 5000 offers the image resolution, broad substrate support and robustness of the higher-end DocuColor products at a price point that will make it attractive to a wide range of production sites."

The DocuColor 5000 is designed for print providers that average between 30,000 and 150,000 impressions per month. It features 2400 x 2400 dpi print resolution and state-of-the-art laser technology. The DocuColor 5000's 32-beam laser - compared to a typical 2-beam laser - allows the press to scan more data faster and at a higher resolution. It also offers tighter registration and a wider choice of color management capabilities than light-production digital color systems now on the market.

Designed to produce marketing brochures, posters, customized direct-mail pieces and more, the digital press maintains its speed when printing on heavyweight, oversized and coated paper.

"The DocuColor 5000 gives customers what they need to enter the digital color market or grow their current digital color business right here, right now," said Quincy Allen, president, Xerox Production Systems Group. "Xerox's 10 years of experience developing industry-leading digital color printing systems has resulted in an unparalleled product line; more than 16,000 Xerox DocuColor production systems are installed worldwide. Regardless of a customer's print job requirements or page volume, Xerox offers the technology, workflow software and business support that lets them thrive in the expanding digital color printing market."

Digital Color Growth Momentum
InfoTrends' On Demand Printing & Publishing Consulting Service expects that the growth of digital color printing will continue to accelerate. It predicts the number of pages printed on production color devices in the United States will grow from 27.5 billion pages in 2005 to more than 161 billion pages in 2009 at a compound annual growth rate of 42 percent.

Supporting this growth, Xerox offers the industry's largest digital color production printing line, with nine products ranging in speed from the 40-ppm Xerox DocuColor 240 to the 110-ppm Xerox iGen3™ Digital Production Press. Last year, customers printed more than 10 billion pages on Xerox production color systems, making the line the most widely used in the industry.

The Xerox DocuColor 5000 has a high-capacity paper feeder that holds 4,000 sheets, with an optional feeder that can expand capacity to 8,000 sheets from four trays. It can feed all media from all trays, a key productivity advantage. There are two optional finishing devices: a high-capacity stacker and a stacker/stapler.

A new PC-based user interface makes the DocuColor 5000 easy to use. This is the first Xerox digital press that has a user interface driven by a keyboard and mouse, making programming jobs and adjusting images quick and simple.

With the choice of three different color servers, the DocuColor 5000 can be easily integrated into a print operation's existing print workflow. Print providers can choose the Xerox FreeFlow™ DocuSP™ color server - the workstation that processes incoming print files and drives the digital press - or offerings from Creo or EFI. In addition, print providers can rely on Xerox's industry-leading FreeFlow™ Digital Workflow Collection - workflow solutions that align digital and offset printing, automate operations and build new revenue-generating applications.

To help customers maximize their digital investment, Xerox offers the graphic communications business development starter kit, part of Xerox ProfitAccelerator™ Digital Business Resources collection. The kit is designed specifically for the DocuColor product line and has seven parts focusing on the essentials of digital printing: financial, sales and marketing, creative and design, applications development, paper and media, training, and business development support.

Availability and Pricing
The DocuColor 5000 Digital Press will be available for order-taking in North America and Europe on June 5, at a list price of $144,000, including a color server. Installation is available in mid-June for most configurations. The press is sold through the Xerox direct sales force, resellers, agents and concessionaires.