PALO ALTO, Calif.--Sept. 23, 2002--Building upon its efforts to reset the imaging and printing market space, HP today unveiled a new family of color printers and connectivity devices that make color printing in the office faster, easier and more affordable than ever before. The new family of printers breaks price, performance and ease-of-use barriers, providing business customers with compelling reasons for printing everyday business communications in color. Additions to the HP color printer family include: * the industry's first $299 high-performance, portable color printer offering up to 8 pages per minute (ppm) color and 9 ppm black and white, with six-ink printing capability and optional Bluetooth connectivity; * HP's first $999 color laser printer; * a new $799 workgroup color inkjet printer that delivers color printing at up to 8 ppm laser-like speed; * the fastest color HP LaserJet printer yet, featuring wide-format in-line printing (at up to 21 ppm for letter output) at a breakthrough price; * improved price and performance for large format color printing; and * new connectivity products that support printer maintenance, management and wireless connectivity. In addition to offering exceptional value and outstanding print quality, the new HP printers use a common printer platform that streamlines the installation process, making color HP LaserJet and business inkjet printers as simple to use and manage as black-and-white HP LaserJet printers. "HP has applied its industry-leading expertise in commercial printing to completely redefine the color printer market for the office," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, HP Imaging and Printing Group. "From the desktop with high-quality digital imaging HP Photosmart printers to the print shop with wide-format HP Designjet printers, HP has the industry-leading color technology to meet the varied needs of our customers. There has never been a better time for businesses to adopt color printing for everyday use." According to IDC research, 42 percent of all combined personal and workgroup printers (inkjet and page printers) currently installed in businesses are color devices. "Supplementing office networks with color printers allows workers to break through the communication clutter. As color printing is increasingly affordable, color adoption will continue to grow," said Angele Boyd, industry analyst, IDC. "By broadening its product mix, HP is well-poised to take advantage of this opportunity." During the past five years, HP has spent thousands of engineering hours creating new technologies to make color printing simple. For example, by establishing a common printer architecture for its coloroffice laser and business inkjet printers, HP customers now have standardized paper handling, control panels, printer management, networking and even printer drivers across multiple product lines. Other technological enhancements featured in the new printer family include: front-panel access for quick and easy installation of print supplies and printer maintenance; intuitive control panels that simultaneously display text, supplies status gauges and animated graphics to help maximize printer uptime; flexible, wireless connectivity via infrared and Bluetooth technology; and, optimized dpi and toner enhancements for higher resolution, true-to-life photo quality. Color Printer Family Specifics: HP Deskjet 450 Printer Designed for mobile professionals, the HP Deskjet 450 printer is a compact powerhouse full of features for fast, hassle-free mobile printing. The high-performance HP Deskjet 450 delivers 4,800-optimized dpi,(1) true-to-life six-ink printing (with separate photo cartridge purchase), long-lasting lithium-ion battery and flexible connectivity options (parallel, USB, fast infrared and Bluetooth). Busy professionals can reliably print from a host of wired and wireless devices, including notebooks, PDAs, select mobile phones and digital cameras. For added convenience, high-capacity ink cartridges print up to 400 color pages, without user intervention. An optional auto/airline adapter and carrying case accessories support mobile printing. The HP Deskjet 450 printer is expected to be available in October for an estimated U.S. street price of $299.(2) HP Color LaserJet 2500 Printer With an estimated U.S. street price of $999,(2) the HP Color LaserJet 2500 is HP's lowest priced color laser printer ever. Sporting an industry leading size and weight, the HP Color LaserJet 2500 delivers simple, reliable, high-quality laser printing for small businesses, small work teams or individual users for general office use. The printer's toner formula creates crisp, bright colors for professional-looking documents, and an embedded Web server combined with smart chip technology ensures real-time toner and paper supplies management. The HP Color LaserJet 2500 printer is expected to be available in October. HP Business Inkjet 3000 Printer Ideal for small workgroups, the HP Business Inkjet 3000 delivers laser-like speeds of up to 8 ppm color and offers the lowest total cost of ownership of any HP color printer sold today. Combining the ease of use of HP Deskjet printers with the robust performance of HP Color LaserJet printers, the HP Business Inkjet 3000 offers economical, modular supplies management, LaserJet-compatible networking and advanced paper handling. The HP Business Inkjet 3000 printer is expected to be available in December for an estimated U.S. street price of $799.(2) HP Color LaserJet 5500 Printer To handle a wide range of business communication from general office needs to publishing creative graphics, the HP Color LaserJet 5500 provides wide-format printing that supports a variety of standard and custom media sizes. The printer features in-line technology that prints high-quality color documents at the same speed as monochrome (21 ppm for letter output) and has robust networking capabilities, a simple paper path, front-only accessibility and user interaction, smart print supplies and a control panel that features text and graphical support -- all at a breakthrough price. HP's fastest color laser printer yet, the HP Color LaserJet 5500 is expected to be available in November for an estimated U.S. street price of $3,249.(2) HP Designjet 5500 Printer Speedy turnaround with uncompromising image quality is vital for print service providers, graphics and mapping professionals. The HP Designjet 5500 is a large-format printer designed to meet those requirements with high-speed production printing modes and a driverless, Web-based printing path. The HP Designjet 5500 also supports a wide range of printing materials up to 60 inches wide, as well as dye-based inks and ultraviolet pigment-based inks. The printer is available now for an estimated U.S. street price of $8,999.(2) Connectivity Products Specifics New networking options from HP provide wireless connectivity and simple network management. The HP Jetdirect 280m internal print server enables 802.11b wireless network sharing of HP Deskjet all-in-one and color inkjet printers that have an LIO connectivity slot. Mac or PC users can use the HP Jetdirect 280m as a simple, upgradeable tool to share a printer in a variety of network environments. The HP Jetdirect 280m is available now for an estimated U.S. street price of $369.(2) HP also announced a new version of its Web-based peripheral management utility, the HP Web Jetadmin 7.0. This version enables LAN administrators to add device plug-in or application plug-ins for their new printers via an intelligent update without having to reinstall HP Web Jetadmin. About HP HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corp. on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.