Acorn Computers in Major Deal  with AB Dick of Germany 

Acorn Computers Limited has signed an agreement with A.B. Dick of Germany to 
supply its electronic publishing system as part of the first computer based 
Pre-Press system to be marketed by the German offset press company. 

The Pre-Press system comprises an Acorn 32-bit RISC computer, together with 
a 256-level greyscale scanner, a choice of A3 or A4 sized direct drive laser 
printers, "Impression II" publishing software from Computer Concepts Ltd, 
200 outline fonts, and postscript drivers for easy output to 
photo-typesetters. 

Customers can choose between an extremely fast 600 dpi direct drive laser 
printer or an oversize A3 laser printer from Calligraph Ltd which prints at 
up to 1,200x1,200 dpi. By using this option the customer is able to output 
his work straight to a plate without going through the intermediate stage of 
plate making from printed art work. 

Using Acorn's Pre-Press system, customers can easily produce work from the 
simplest A4 sheet, to a multi-page catalogue, to a prestigious brochure. 
Together with A.B.Dick's own two-colour A3 offset press the entire package 
is available in three configurations: with a 21" colour monitor and A3 
printer; a 14" monitor with A3 printer; and a 14" monitor with an A4 
printer. Prices range from DM18,200 (#7,400 approx) to DM34,500 (#14,000 
approx). 

Acorn's Publishing system combines the power and performance of Acorn's 
latest computer technology (for which it won a Queen's Award for 
Technological Achievement last year) with professional software and 
peripherals.  The "Impression II" software (which is available in a number 
of languages including German, English and Dutch) is easy to use, yet 
powerful enough for the most demanding of tasks.  The whole system is one of 
the fastest on the market allowing changes in documents to be made almost 
instantaneously. 

Work is currently underway on developing a job entry window menuing system 
tailored specifically for the first time user in the pre-press market, such 
that a complete novice can use the system without any special training. 

Acorn's Professional Systems Marketing Manager, Simon Woodward said that he 
was delighted with the agreement which followed the successful showing of 
the new system at the recent CeBIT 93 exhibition in Hannover. "Interest in 
our pre-press system was very positive from a number of parties, especially 
from businesses looking to do their own typesetting on a limited budget, who 
quickly recognised that it provides one of the most sensible and cost 
effective solutions available at a price which is substantially less than 
that on offer from any rival manufacturer." he said.   

"Acorn's Publishing system is unique in the world of electronic publishing. 
Our powerful ARM3 32-bit processor, together with our RISC Operating System 
and applications software, have created a publishing system which 
outperforms the highest specification systems from most other publishing 
system vendors, yet falls within most budgets." 

The agreement with A.B.Dick (Germany) comes only months after a similar deal 
was signed with A.B.Dick (Netherlands);  A.B.Dick (Germany) is the largest 
subsidiary of the US-based A.B.Dick group. 

Ends 

Further information from Simon Woodward Professional Systems Marketing 
Manager Acorn Computers Limited Tel: 0223 254219 

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