PALO ALTO, Calif., February 4, 2008—HP today announced a significant new enhancement in HP Indigo label and packaging production solutions – a series of four dedicated digital front end (DFE) label and packaging production printing tools – created in collaboration with EskoArtwork. These new solutions give HP Indigo customers enhanced abilities to confidently pursue even more possibilities, create a competitive advantage, and drive profits by increasing shop floor productivity and elevating the prepress capabilities for digital label and packaging production.

"Today's announcement represents the next important step in the Print 2.0 initiative for HP Indigo, and shows how we are further extending the digital platform in label and packaging production," said Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo division, HP. "By working with a respected, best-in-class provider like EskoArtwork, we continue to provide customers with quality- and productivity-enhancing solutions that make labels and packaging two of the fastest-growing segments in digital printing."

Available now for users of all presses HP sells into the label and packaging market, including the HP Indigo presses ws4000, ws4050 and ws4500, the four new solutions include:

- HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Server, powered by EskoArtwork, a DFE server that establishes PDF 1.6 workflows, eliminates time needed to prepare files for raster image processing (RIPing), and enables on-screen soft proofing and ICC color management. The server also gives operators the ability to reduce waste by creating repeat-length settings in prepress, plus it offers HP Indigo press ws4500 users Pantone-certified conversion tables for four-, six-, and seven-color printing; "double-hit" separations for more effective use of white ink; and options for high-definition or standard screening.
- HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Color Kit, powered by EskoArtwork, a high-end color management solution that gives users the ability to cost-effectively and quickly match Pantone colors, flexography, offset, or other print outputs. This tool, which incorporates EskoArtwork's Kaleidoscope software, also enables spectral profiling of special colors and individually stores them in a database for consistent quality and repeatability.
- HP Indigo Labels and Packaging VDP Tools, a set of Adobe Illustrator plug-ins offered as a package or stand-alone modules that enable variable-data, barcode, and step and repeat work in digital printing environments.
- HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Connectivity Module, a driver that enables the HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Server to connect to the HP Indigo press, feeding up to four HP Indigo presses in a non-concurrent print mode.

These new solutions replace both the prior on-board DFE, as well as the EskoArtwork solutions HP Indigo sold through a reseller agreement. The new HP Indigo Label and Packaging solutions also represent the next evolution in HP's successful history of collaboration with EskoArtwork, the world leader in label and packaging prepress systems.  These new solutions are designed exclusively for HP Indigo workflows, with HP assuming full ownership of service, customer training and warrantees.

The new label and packaging digital front end solutions are also compatible with the HP Smart Labels and Authentication Solution, which offers HP Indigo customers the tools to efficiently produce functional, versatile and affordable smart labels and packaging for use in anti-counterfeiting processes and supply-chain management operations, particularly in pharmaceutical electronic pedigree label and packaging environments requiring full serialization.
 
"With an estimated 30-40% annual growth, digital printing is the fastest growing market segment within package printing. EskoArtwork's work with HP acknowledges the importance of digital label printing and the powerful capabilities of the HP Indigo product line," commented Cartsen Knudsen, EskoArtwork CEO. "EskoArtwork's software and workflow solutions inside the HP Indigo Labels and Packaging tools assure HP customers of exceptional, consistent, color-managed print production that meets the requirements of consumer product companies and their brand managers."