(25/02/2004) AGFA wins two 2003 European Frost & Sullivan Awards for its dynamic and innovative marketing strateg

Integration expertise, intelligent alliances and professional service offering ensure Agfa retains number one position in its sector Mortsel / Belgium, February 25, 2004 Agfa's HealthCare division has been awarded the 2003 Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Award and the 2003 Frost & Sullivan Growth Strategy Award. Agfa is noted for the innovative strategy it has adopted in achieving significantly high-value, multi-site contracts in new European PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) markets. Frost & Sullivan: 'In spite of the reduced healthcare spending, Agfa has seen increased sales of new digital solutions with increased profitability, thus retaining the number one position in Europe in terms of revenues and in terms of number of contracts.' 'We are delighted about winning the Frost & Sullivan Awards. They underscore that our key strengths are strongly appreciated in the market. The success of our workflow solutions is largely based on our customer knowledge and early commitment to IT applications in healthcare. With more than a decade of experience in large scale, complex projects and of integrative expertise, we will continue to deliver leading solutions to our customers', says Agfa's Marcus Ostländer, Manager Marketing Systems Solutions HealthCare Europe. 'Agfa has demonstrated a clear understanding of the business needs of its customers on core issues like scalability and upgrading solution,' says Siddharth Saha, Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan. 'As Agfa is vendor-neutral, their strength lies in integrating enterprise technology. Agfa's PACS solution IMPAX(tm) integrates with existing RIS (Radiology Information System), HIS (Hospital Information System) and EPR (Electronic Patient Record) systems.' The notable strategic alliances Agfa has entered into, e.g. with Hologic, Voxar, Talk Technology and R2 Technologies, underscore its strategy to remain on top of technological innovations. Frost & Sullivan: 'These intelligent alliances have strengthened Agfa's capability to penetrate new markets which require integration of new information management solutions with the existing legacy systems.' According to Frost & Sullivan's report, Agfa's portfolio of professional support services, which includes consulting services, technical services, project management services and training and education services, is driving growth. The leveraging of its varied experiences in handling complex projects has resulted in Agfa perfecting the art of cost effective implementation. 'Agfa's strategy to not only enhance its core product portfolio, but also its professional services offering, has taken the company to the number one position in Europe. By virtue of this strategy, Agfa has recently gained lucrative contracts in some fiercely competitive European markets,' concludes Frost & Sullivan. End of message About Agfa The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems, intended mainly for the graphics industry, healthcare, micrographics, motion picture and photography markets. Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is active in 40 countries and has 120 agents throughout the world. Together they achieved a turnover of 4,683 million euros in 2002. Product and company information can be found on Agfa's home page on the World Wide Web at: www.agfa.com. Agfa, the Agfa rhombus, IMPAX and See More. Do More. are trademarks of Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Belgium or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Contacts: Marcus Ostländer / Manager Marketing Systems Solutions HealthCare Europe tel.: +32 (0) 3 444 93 26 e-mail: marcus.ostlander@agfa.com Geertrui De Smet / PR and Events Manager HealthCare tel.: +32 (0) 3 444 73 06 / fax: +32 (0) 3 444 72 85 e-mail: geertruidesmet@agfapress.com Johan Jacobs / Corporate Press Relations Manager tel.: +32 (0)3 444 80 15 / fax: +32 (0)3 444 74 85 e-mail: johan.jacobs@agfa.com (C) Companynews