Scanning The Future

"We believe the market for scanners will continue to be viable for two to five years at least, and we remain committed to this market," adds Lars Jensen, Esko-Graphics' product manager for scanners.

Still, high-end scanners are not in demand as much as they used to be.

"The drum scanner market is a mature market and, as a result, sales activity has been declining for the past few years," concedes Ray McAllister, senior manager at Screen (USA), in Rolling Meadows, Ill. It's a classic good news/bad news situation, however, since McAllister says the company actually has seen an increase in customer inquiries because it is the only remaining manufacturer of drum machines among the traditional big three vendors.