Both Litho Supplies and Positive Focus will show the products for the first time at the show at Earls Court 2, which runs from 18-20 October.

Litho Supplies has struck a deal with Consultaprint to sell DirecType software.

"I think that it's a fantastic piece of software," said Litho Supplies electronics sales director Steve Dodds. "We have 300 customers out there with Xerox kit. We plan to take this out to those customers and their customers."

Positive Focus will be showing rival system Alpha-Picture from software developer i-clue. Although similar to DirecType and another rival system, Direct Smile, AlphaPicture is available as a managed service rather than as a standalone software package (PrintWeek, 23 June).

"We see it as an opportunity for smaller printers who wouldn't want to invest in the software but whose customers want the service," said Positive Focus managing director Ivor Dixon.

The firm will also show XMPie's image personalisation package uImage, which Dixon claimed took possibilities of the process to a new level. "AlphaPicture sits neatly alongside uImage for those who want an out of the box solution," he said.