ZINK Imaging And Alps Partnership

ZINK Imaging, Inc. and Alps Electric Co., Ltd. ("Alps") today publicly announced their 24-month long strategic partnership to design, commercialize, and market a range of ZINK(TM)-enabled digital printing products.

In this partnership, ZINK Imaging, the inventor of the ZINK Technology and manufacturer of the ZINK Paper(TM), is working hand-in-hand with Alps on the development of ZINK-enabled print engines and devices for partner companies looking to deliver innovative printing solutions to their customers. These companies will bring ZINK-enabled products and ZINK Paper to the marketplace under their respective brands.

ZINK Imaging and Alps are actively collaborating with numerous global companies and expect the first in an extensive roadmap of ZINK-enabled products to ship in 2008. One of the first products will be a ZINK-enabled pocket-sized mobile printer for wireless printing from camera phones and digital cameras.

ZINK Imaging and Alps together are creating a new "ZINK" category of printers where small, simple, mobile, earth-friendly, and no ink are key features. At the heart of this new category of printing is the ZINK Paper. The patented ZINK Paper is an advanced composite material with embedded yellow, magenta, and cyan dye crystals. A ZINK-enabled printer uses heat to activate and colorize these crystals. The printing process is now radically simple. Just add paper(TM) and print.

Alps is a multi-billion dollar electronics supplier that was established in 1948 with expertise in developing highly evolved devices with advanced functions by fusing a wide range of core and proprietary technologies. Alps has a long history in developing printer products and has a very strong reputation in the consumer thermal printing market. Their expertise includes material design, fabrication of their own print heads, miniaturization of electronics, and achieving high image quality through precision machining and mechanical design.

"We are committed to developing a new generation of printing solutions for our partners and, ultimately, end-users," said Mr. Yoshitada Amagishi, General Manager, Peripheral Products Division, Alps. "Our partnership with ZINK Imaging is enabling us to create totally new printing categories powered by the ZINK Technology."

"Partnering with a global market share leader in thermal printing is key to our success in creating an entirely new printing category," said Wendy Caswell, President and CEO, ZINK Imaging. "Together, our partnership has the capability and flexibility to deliver almost any type of ZINK-enabled product to our brand partners with the assurance of high quality and performance."

Find out more at zink.com