Almost all the recent announcements, and certainly all the hype, in the digital printing market have involved high-speed inkjet printing. Little has been heard about the established form of digital printing, namely digital printing using electrophotographic (toner based) technology. We have heard about many vendors announcing their move into high-speed inkjet printing, or announcing enhanced or new products both in continuous feed and sheet fed operational modes.

Well the situation has now changed with the two companies that started the digital colour printing market announcing their next generation of products. The first of these was Xeikon who indicated their Quantum technology will be used in a new product, however this will only be shown as a concept product at drupa. I cannot say too much about this product yet but it will surprise many people to find its new technology has many similarities to that of HP Indigo. Quantum promises to bring the highest quality of electrophotographic technology and the use of standard substrates, with the speed of high-speed inkjet printing. The other company that made announcements was HP Indigo, and what a major announcement this was!

HP Indigo announced both its Series 4 platform and major upgrades to its established Series 3 platform. The new platform comprised three totally new presses and was an announcement that will significantly change the digital printing industry. The HP Indigo 10000, 20000 and 30000 presses are true B2 format presses. The HP Indigo 10000 is a sheet fed commercial printing press, the HP Indigo 20000 is a continuous feed flexible packaging and label press, and the HP Indigo 30000 is a sheet fed folding carton packaging press. These presses will open up a new market for B2 digital printing. I know that both Fujifilm and Screen have announced B2 format sheet fed inkjet presses, however I believe that the HP Indigo presses are so much better for the market that they will rapidly take a dominant position in this space when they become available next year.