The deal started in the US this month and will be rolled out to other countries in the first quarter of 2005.

This ends speculation that the two firms would be working together, which began after the announcement last year that Kodak was acquiring Heidelberg's digital printing divisions.

"We had to make sure all the components were in place to support our customers," said KPG director of worldwide corporate and marketing communications Beth Hogan Scott.

Products covered include the colour NexPress 2100 and the black-and-white Digimaster E125 and E150.

KPG will kick off the agreement by showing the NexPress 2100 on its stand at Graph Expo in Chicago next week. KPG announced a deal with Canon at Drupa, to sell its CLC 1100 and 5100 colour digital presses, which remains in place.

"This gives us one of the broadest offerings in the industry," said Hogan Scott.

The Canon deal replaced an earlier deal with Xerox to sell the DocuColor range in the US. This was terminated last December excepting the DocuColor 12.

[o] KPG veteran Tony Suckling returned to the firm this week to take up the role of divisional sales manager of its Digital Solutions division, which will sell digital presses. Suckling left KPG in 2000 when it disbanded its electronics sales team and moved to MCSi where, he said, he gained experience selling Xerox equipment.

Meanwhile, KPG remained tight-lipped about plans for a violet plate, which sources have suggested would be launched at either Ifra or GraphExpo. Hogan Scott kept to the firm's line that it continued to evaluate different technologies.

Story by Barney Cox