Hands Across the Water

That makes responsiveness dependent on capacity. Pairing with Biddles triples the volume IBT Global could produce previously, Paeglow says.

Products for North and South American distribution will be manufactured at IBT Global's Troy plant. Titles targeted for the continent will be produced at Biddles' King's Lynn, U.K. facility.

The agreement with IBT is Biddles' first entry into the U.S. market, says Mick Read, Biddles' managing director. Read says the partnership brings together "the most technologically advanced digital printing capabilities on each side of the Atlantic."

That's important, Read says, because the greatest need for digital printing are medium-sized publishers with fairly large quantities, and a presence on one of the two continents.

IBT's Paeglow agrees, and says the long-term goal of the partnership is to jointly develop a global digital printing network. The company plans to use the "distribute and print" model to produce books in the Far East as well.

- Jeff Angus