Smartmatic Uses Kodak’s Printing Technology to Deliver Cost-Effective, Personalized Voting Solutions for the 2010 Philippines General Election

MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES, May 5— Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corporation, a provider of cutting-edge technology and expertise in election, identity management, and public safety solutions, today announced the successful completion of the ballot printing for the upcoming Philippines general election using KODAK VERSAMARK VL4000 Printing Systems.

      Together with Kodak’s partners—Pitney Bowes Emtex Software and Hunkeler AG, Kodak’s Service team worked closely with Smartmatic to address the printing needs of the Philippines General Election 2010.  The team printed more than 50 million full-color, personalized ballots needed for the automated elections and delivered the project ahead of schedule.

      “Smartmatic’s mandate is to provide top-notch auditable voting technology with the purpose of enabling the Commission of Elections of the Philippines to deliver timely results with confidence,” said Cesar Flores, President, Smartmatic Asia-Pacific. “We found a perfect solution in Kodak with its internationally renowned reliability and the product offerings that effectively meet our requirements.”

      “We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with Smartmatic in this monumental election project,” said Steve Green, Regional Managing Director, Consumer Digital Group and Graphic Communications Group, Asia Pacific Region and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company.  “We are glad that the KODAK VERSAMARK VL4000 Printing Systems will enable the Commission of Elections of the Philippines to conduct an automated election and to deliver a smooth and efficient voting process.”

      Smartmatic designs and deploys end-to-end, custom technology solutions to enable government agencies and large enterprises to fulfill their missions with the utmost efficiency. The KODAK VERSAMARK VL-Series Printing System deployed in the project for the Philippines General Election 2010 is instrumental in helping the Commission of Elections achieve a cost savings of up to PHP 230 million with Smartmatic’s solutions.

“To be involved in the Philippines General Election 2010 is a testament to Kodak’s ability to help customers develop their businesses in new directions,” said Kevin Joyce, Worldwide Vice President Sales and Marketing, Digital Printing Solutions and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company.  Kodak enabled Smartmatic to extend its current capabilities by providing turnkey  KODAK VERSAMARK VL-Series Printing Systems, comprised of reliable inkjet printheads and a choice of controller, powering our customer’s competitive edge with full-page variability.”

      The KODAK VERSAMARK VL4000 Printing Systems can achieve a printing speed of 410 fpm (125 mpm) at a resolution of 600x360 dpi.  The systems also provide 100 percent variable data capabilities, a prerequisite in a voting solution.  Coupled with the EMTEX VIP Server, a high-performance output management solution, the KODAK VERSAMARK VL-Series Printing Systems provide centralized print production management, real time data stream transformation, resource management, and job accounting.

KODAK Products are backed by KODAK Service and Support. KODAK Service and Support is made up of more than 3,000 professionals in 120 countries. It is a leading multi-vendor integrated services provider, delivering consulting, installation, maintenance and support services for commercial printing, graphic communications, document imaging, data storage and retail industries. KODAK Service and Support professionals are uniquely qualified to provide services that control costs, maximize productivity, and minimize business risk.

About Pitney Bowes Emtex Software

Emtex Software is a business unit of Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technology (DMT) and an industry leader in providing the most comprehensive suite of Production Intelligence mailstream solutions to link print and mail workflow. Enabling organizations to deliver high integrity customer communications through an optimized mailstream that includes centralized job and print management, any-to-any transformation, real-time document re-engineering, automation of data collection and reporting, empowering organizations to schedule, route, transform, track and analyze production workflow. Emtex solutions are used at more than 800 production sites worldwide, across vertical industry.

About Hunkeler AG

Since its foundation in 1922, Hunkeler has specialized in the development and manufacture of machines and systems for the paper processing industry. Its activities are concentrated into three business units: Digital, Web Finishing and Manufacturing.

Digital incorporates pre- and post-solutions for digital production lines in computer centers and lettershops, in print-on-demand, and in the production of direct mail and forms.

In Web Finishing, advanced modular concepts create the basis for flexibility and efficiency when producing modern, multi-functional communications and advertising media.

With Manufacturing, Hunkeler makes its know-how and resources available to industry and commerce for the construction of prototypes and individual components, as well as small- to medium-scale series production.

Today, 250 Hunkeler staff dedicates themselves to the success of their customers throughout the world. Proximity to markets and customers is secured globally by three subsidiaries - in Germany, Italy and Hong Kong - as well as selected marketing partners.

To learn more, visit http://www.hunkeler.ch/. 

About Kodak

As the world’s foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.

To learn more, visit http://www.kodak.com and follow our blogs and more at http://www.kodak.com/go/followus.

More than 75 million people worldwide manage, share and create photo gifts online at KODAK Gallery—join today at www.kodakgallery.com

In the graphic communications market, Kodak offers the broadest portfolio of integrated solutions to help customers grow their business. For more information, visit www.graphics.kodak.com. For downloading photos and videos from Kodak’s image library, visit www.kodak.com/go/gcgimages.