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NEW APPOINTMENT:

Colortrac scoop Malcom Lane, large format industry veteran.

Colortrac, the British innovator in cost-effective color and monochrome large format scanners and scanning software solutions, has announced the appointment of Malcolm Lane, previously Contex US VP Sales and Marketing, as President of Colortrac Inc., its wholly-owned US subsidiary.

Colortrac Inc's new President, Malcolm Lane

Colortrac Inc's new President,
Malcolm Lane

It is not often that we comment on new appointments as they make rather dull reading. However, the announcement of Lane's appointment at Colortrac Inc is more significant than most. This is because Colortrac has not had the same success as its major rivals in developing effective US and Japanese sales channels for its attractively priced large format scanners. Lane has the experience in these markets to turn Colortrac's fortunes around.

Lane is widely credited with opening up Contex's Japanese market and expanding its operations in North and South America. As Colortrac's first ever senior management appointment in North America, Lane now adds his extensive marketing expertise to Colortrac's American operations which are based in Golden, Colorado, an office which has for many years been largely a technical support center for old Tangent Imaging Systems, SCANGRAPHICS, ANA Tech and current Colortrac wide format scanners.

Colortrac Inc was formed in 1997. It subsequently acquired the assets and patents of Tangent Imaging Systems, SCANGRAPHICS and ANA Tech in 1999. With no US-based sales and marketing department to speak of, these functions have been run from the UK by Peter de Winter-Brown, Colortrac's Sales and Marketing Director. Sales of Colortrac's large format scanners have been driven through its US distributors, the most important being GEI Wide Format, Canon USA and Paradigm Imaging, an OEM.

"I am very happy with the appointment of Malcolm Lane as President of Colortrac Inc. Malcolm is a proven sales and marketing professional with an outstanding career in the wide format industry" said Peter de Winter-Brown, Colortrac's Sales and Marketing Director. "Malcolm knows this industry as well as anyone. We look forward to working with him to achieve the greater market share which we believe our new SmartLF products deserve. Having made key appointments in 2008 to improve the quality and professionalism of our manufacturing and support operations, Colortrac has an innovative range of best-of-breed, fully supported scanners which we now need to bring more effectively to the market."

Born and educated in England, Lane is expected to fit in well with the British wide format scanner manufacturer. Among others, he has worked for BAC (British Aircraft Corporation), Sperry Gyroscope, Rank Xerox, (later Xerox Corporation) in various positions including International Service Operations, Business Planning, Forecasting, and Product Marketing for over 23 years. In 1989, he transferred within Xerox to XES (Xerox Engineering Systems) European HQ at Marlow, UK.

In 1997, Lane transferred to XES HQ in Rochester, New York, USA as Worldwide Product Launch and Marketing Manager. In 2001 he joined Vidar, the US-based large format scanner vendor in Herndon VA as worldwide VP Sales and Marketing responsible for developing the distribution channels for their wide format color scanners. When Contex acquired Vidar in 2002, Lane was appointed VP Sales and Marketing with a brief to set up a new distribution office in Japan, a task he excelled in.

On returning to the US as Contex's USA VP Sales and Marketing, later General Manager, Lane was often the front-man for Contex at US wide format imaging shows, welcoming Contex distributors, resellers and customers, even competitors, to the Contex booth. After acquiring IDEAL Scanners and merging it with Contex USA, Contex chose to dispense with Lane's services. Colortrac have scooped him up with enthusiasm. He joins another popular ex-Vidar veteran, Peter Sandberg, Sales Manager for Europe and MEA, at Colortrac.

"I am excited to have this opportunity to join Colortrac. I look forward to help our Colortrac partners further develop the wide format scanner business with an ever stronger SmartLF product line and support commitment to customers, resellers, distributors and OEMs" Lane said.

Lane's appointment comes on the back of Colortrac's investment in experienced technical staff and quality assurance professionals who could enhance its large format scanner manufacturing and support capability. All this suggests to us that Colortrac are getting their act together and will be more assertive in 2009.