Unlike rivals Agfa and Fuji, Kodak will not show a violet chemistry-free plate but instead will launch Electra XD, a new version of its biggest selling thermal plate, which was developed at its Leeds factory.

"XD stands for extreme durability," said Etienne van Damme, Kodak GCG vice president of marketing strategy and business development, pre-press solutions.

"It's capable of much longer run lengths into hundreds of thousands unbaked. Compared to the benchmark Electra Excel, it easily doubles or even trebles the run possible."

Improved chemical durability makes it suitable for some UV ink applications too.

In addition to durability, XD is also 20 to 25% faster than Excel, the current benchmark plate, promising to further speed up the latest generation of thermal platesetters. Development speed has also been improved to make sure processing can keep up with imaging.

Topping off the new plate's improved performance is higher resolution, with the capability to hold a 10micron FM dot – Excel was restricted to 20micron, precluding it from the very highest quality applications.

Van Damme said the firm is not ignoring processless or violet and has projects in the lab for a "simple processing" violet plate.

However, he said Kodak believed, due to its sensitivity to daylight, violet was inherently restricted for these applications and thermal remained a better option for chemistry-free CTP.

At Drupa, Kodak will show a technology demonstration of the next generation of Thermal Direct. The new plate is twice as fast as the current offering, making it as fast as current processed plates. It is expected to be commercially available next summer.