23rd December 2009, St Ives, Cambridge, UK - First incorporated in November 1989, Colortrac has been recognized with a number of notable awards and achievements during its 20th year. In April the Colortrac SmartLF Gx 42 wide format scanner was voted "Top Product 2009" by readers of Wide-Format Imaging magazine. In November Business Equipment Research & Test Laboratories (BERTL) awarded 4.5 Star ?Outstanding? ratings for both the SmartLF Ci 40e and the SmartLF Gx+ T42e large format scanners. Colortrac is the first and only large format scanner manufacturer to achieve this rating for its leading ranges of CIS and CCD technology scanners.
No less impressive is Colortrac?s continuing unit sales growth. In 2009 the company will sell more wide format scanners than at any time in its history, achieving a 27% increase in unit sales and an even bigger increase in market share. Given the difficult trading conditions in many of its markets this is testament to the quality and performance of the SmartLF large format scanner range and the dedication and hard work of our employees and sales partners throughout the world.
Colortrac was founded in 1989 by its managing director Graham Tinn, with the aim of developing an affordable large format color scanning solution for the Oil Exploration industry. Since then, Colortrac has pioneered cost-effective CCD and CIS-based color and monochrome wide format scanners for a wide range of markets. Today, the SmartLF Gx+ Series is Colortrac's sixth generation of CCD large format scanners and its most innovative and accomplished to date. The SmartLF Ci series is Colortrac's exciting new, fourth generation CIS wide format scanner. All Colortrac SmartLF large format scanners support the ISIS (Image and Scanner Interface Specification) standard as used in EDM (Electronic Document Management), the only wide format scanners to do so.
Colortrac was the first wide format scanner manufacturer to deliver affordable color image capture for large format copying and wide format scanning applications in the graphic arts, construction, engineering, GIS, mapping and other large format scanner applications. In its tenth year, Colortrac acquired ANAtech and Tangent Imaging Systems and gained the benefits of their patented wide format scanning technology. These acquisitions significantly strengthened Colortrac capabilities in 2D adaptive thresholding for monochrome images and in closed-loop color calibration technology for large format scan-to-copy and scan-to-print applications.
Colortrac continues to focus on product innovation in its mission to expand the market for wide format scanning and large format image processing applications.
Colortrac's head office is located in St Ives, near Cambridge, England, a globally recognized centre of excellence in science and computer technology. In 1999, Colortrac was one of 80 UK companies to win the prestigious Queen's Award for Export Achievement. In 2004, Colortrac's ground-breaking SmartLF 4080 color scanner smashed the high price barrier which prevented most CAD professionals from justifying a large format scanner purchase. The impressively specified SmartLF 4080 would redefine large format scanning. By 2005 Colortrac was established as the market leader in entry-level CIS scanning technology. Its combination of aggressive pricing and state-of-the-art optical imaging benefits gave thousands of AEC and CAD users many good reasons to buy a professional large format scanner for the first time.
These price and performance benefits would not have been possible without a skilled and cost-effective workforce. In 2005, Colortrac announced its expansion with the formation of a new Chinese subsidiary, Colortrac Imaging Systems (Suzhou) Co., Ltd, who would source components and produce electro-mechanical sub-assemblies for export to the UK before final assembly with UK-manufactured electronics and software. As Colortrac Suzhou' takes increased responsibility for manufacture, it has made a priority of achieving full compliance with ISO standards such as, ISO 14001(reduction of environmental impact) and ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Assurance standard)
Colortrac Timeline
1989: Colortrac founded. Technology Research and development activity begins
1994: Launch of the first Colortrac monochrome and color large format scanners
1995: Colortrac provide large format color scanning technology to OEM customers
1996: Launch of Colortrac Series 2 ? a key component of the first digital color copy system
1997: Launch of Colortrac Series 3 and Colortrac Inc founded in USA
1998: Colortrac first to introduce thick media handling
1999: Colortrac receive Queen's Award for Export Achievement; acquire ANAtech and Tangent Imaging Systems
2000: Launch of Colortrac Series 4, includes first open aperture scanner with one camera and first 54" color scanner
2002: Launch of Colortrac Series 4e, the first with both FireWire and SCSI interfaces
2004: Launch of the SmartLF 4080, the first CIS based A0 color scanner priced less than £5000 / $7500
2005: Colortrac Suzhou founded
2006: Launch of the SmartLF Cx 40 and the Gx 42, the first LF scanner with 1200 dpi optical resolution
2008: Launch of the SmartLF Gx+ 42 and 56, the world's widest large format scanner, and SmartLF Ci 40
2009: Launch of the SmartLF Ci 24
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Peter de Winter-Brown
Sales & Marketing Director
Colortrac Limited
3-5 Brunel Court
Burrel Road
St Ives
Cambs PE27 3LW
UK
Tel# +44 1480 464618
Email: press@colortrac.com
www.colortrac.com
ABOUT COLORTRAC
Founded in 1989 and based near Cambridge in the UK, Colortrac Ltd is the leading innovator in professional wide format color scanners and image acquisition software solutions. Colortrac was the first large format scanner manufacturer to recognize the individual merits of CIS and CCD image sensor technology. This realization led to the creation of the SmartLF wide format scanner family in 2004. Colortrac SmartLF large format scanners provide affordable solutions for the divergent needs of the Graphic Arts, Reprographics, AEC, CAD, GIS, EDM and FM technical documents scanning markets. Colortrac Ltd has subsidiary offices in Beijing and Suzhou, P.R. China and in Chantilly, Virginia, USA. Information about Colortrac's products can be found at www.colortrac.com.
---
Original Post