However, it will continue to sell, manufacture and support the range, and expects some existing users will choose to add additional units. Sales will be restricted to territories where it has installed machines.

"For M-Press customers nothing changes and future support is guaranteed," said Agfa public relations manager Paul Adriaensen.

He attributed the decision to the market requiring different features to those of the M-Press.

"Not everyone wanted the features of the M-Press, notably the quality and performance, and therefore chose lower-priced alternatives," said Adriaensen.

In total it installed 40 of the high-end machines worldwide. Those machine are a mixture of the original Tiger version, a fully automated machine that could be integrated with inline screen-print units either before or after the digital print unit, and the more recent Leopard, which is purely a digital press.

UK users include the original beta site SMP, Cestrian and Image Data Group.

When launched in 2005 at Fespa Munich it was part of the firm’s push into wide-format production alongside the original Anapurna, a product jointly developed by Mutoh, which was discontinued shortly afterwards.

Agfa will focus its inkjet R&D efforts on a "global technology platform suitable for a wider range of applications" that will incorporate elements from both the M-Press and the Dotrix.

The firm announced last year that it had ceased to sell the Dotrix and cancelled further development of a replacement roll-to-roll UV-cured press platform.

It will continue to develop its Jeti midrange products and Anapurna entry-level UV printers.