Financial results released by the firm said that the digital giant will "add to its portfolio of production systems, software and solutions".
Sources said that a 50ppm entry-level colour press, about the same speed as a DocuColor 5252, will be among the new products.

The move towards increased colour production was demonstrated in the firm's global sales figures for the first quarter of 2005.

Installations of monochrome machines dropped 9% year-on-year, while colour installations grew 18%, largely thanks to strong sales of the DocuColor 5252 and 8000 and the iGen3.

For the commercial production sector, sales slipped 2% from 572m ($1.094bn) in the first three months of 2004 to 560m this year. The firm said that the decline was due to a drop in post-sale revenue from older light-lens products.

Overall, the firm's figures for the quarter showed stable sales and a 43% rise in pre-tax operating income to 151m.

Global sales for all of Xerox's business sectors were 886m for the period, compared to 880m last year. Despite the flat level of sales, the hike in profits was due to exceptional expenses in the first quarter of 2004, which totalled 45m.

Xerox declined to comment on which products would launch next month.

* EFI has posted a 24% year-on-year drop in revenue for the first three months of 2005 to 43m ($82m). The California-based firm reported a 1.8m operating loss for the quarter, compared to a 5.9m profit for the same period last year.

Story by Josh Brooks