By Bruce Barton

Fred Rosenzweig, president of Foster City-based Electronics For Imaging (EFI), pictures a world in the not-too-distant future where every printer will print in color.

“People think and dream in color,” Rosenzweig said. “No one has black-and-white TV anymore. We imagine a time when no one will have a black-and-white printer.”

Toward this end, the Los Altos resident’s company focuses on transforming digital copiers and printers into networked color printing devices.

“We’re the computer that connects to the network that talks to the printer and copier,” he said. “We convert computer language into printer language for output. Typically, our performance is best of breed.”

Rosenzweig, a seven-year resident of Los Altos, joined EFI following a “recruiting cold call” in mid-1993. “I saw a great market opportunity with incredible people,” he recalled. Rosenzweig has been president since January 2000.

At a time when most tech companies are hurting, EFI is doing well. First quarter 2001 results, released last month, showed revenues at $141 million. Gus Gecht, CEO of EFI and also a Los Altos resident, noted, “Our products help companies increase their productivity and efficiency, which become critically important as the economy softens. Looking to the second quarter, the migration to color printing will allow us to maintain our positive momentum.”

“Not many companies are meeting expectations, let alone beating them,” Rosenzweig said. “We’ve basically raised expectations the rest of the year.”

Still, given the state of the economy, Rosenzweig added, “We are taking a very cautionary view, as most companies are.”

He described a “very leveraged” business model, with the company expected to take in $600 million in revenue this year. EFI currently has a work force of about 900 worldwide. The company has invested $270 million in research and development over the last four years, Rosenzweig said.

Among EFI products are the EDOX, Fiery and Splash brands of print controllers, which transform digital copiers and printers into networked printing devices. Another EFI product is eBeam, an Internet whiteboard appliance that transforms whiteboards into a Web-enabled communications tool allowing users to digitally capture meeting notes and diagrams, then save, edit, share and print them using any personal computer.

Canon and Hewlett-Packard are among the companies selling EFI products, Rosenzweig said.

For more information about EFI, visit www.efi.com.