PALO ALTO, Calif., June 30, 2008 – HP today announced that its 2008 drupa trade show exhibit highlighting the company's industry leadership, innovation and commitment to customer success, was the most successful drupa exhibit in HP's history. Purchase contracts completed at the 14-day show were led by a significant number of HP Indigo digital press deals, in addition to sales of HP Scitex and HP Designjet large-format solutions as well as HP SmartStream workflow systems. Drupa, which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany from May 29-June 11, is the world's largest graphic arts exposition; the HP stand at drupa featured the industry's largest digital color portfolio and was the exposition's third-largest stand overall.

In addition to its sales activity, HP also secured an impressive amount of leads for HP Specialty Printing Systems original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnerships and for the new HP Inkjet Web Press. HP also signed several new letters of intent for HP Inkjet Web Press beta installations. 

"Drupa 2008 exceeded our high expectations in terms of demonstrating the strength of our graphics portfolio," said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Graphics and Imaging Business, HP. "High-volume digital color printing showed its strength as the most important source of growth for the global graphic arts industry, and HP is proud to be a leading worldwide solutions supplier for this growth trend."  

Historic deals to commemorate a historic anniversary

HP's presence in the digital color production printing industry stems from its 2002 acquisition of Indigo, the company that launched the digital color printing revolution 15 years ago. HP commemorated the anniversary of the first digital color production press in a reception with Indigo founder Benny Landa on drupa's opening day. HP's Indigo division recorded sales during drupa that reflect digital's rapid expansion, including a number of multiple-press deals. 

HP recorded the most valuable single purchase contract in Indigo history during drupa, a deal for the installation of as many as 36 HP Indigo presses to North American firm Consolidated Graphics. The HP Indigo press installation will enable Consolidated Graphics to meet rapidly growing demand for photobooks and digitally printed direct marketing materials.

Additional customer wins included Italian firm Pixart's purchase of multiple HP Indigo presses and German firm Infowerk AG's purchase of several HP Indigo 7000 Digital Presses, an HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server, an HP SmartStream Photo Enhancement Server and an HP Indigo UV Coater.

Sales opportunities emerged for Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Columbia, reflecting digital's expanding presence across the globe, a significant trend for the overall growth of the HP Graphic Arts Organization. 

"For many people we think of digital printing as a 'Western' printing technology. This however is far from the truth, digital color printing is a major international operation," said Andrew Tribute, managing partner of international graphic arts consultancy Attributes Associates, in a recent blog post reflecting on the geographic diversity of winners in an HP Indigo print quality contest held at drupa. During the contest, top winners included firms from Canada, China, Russia and the United Kingdom.

A big show for large-format printing

Production applications from the HP Large-Format Printing (LFP) business shown at drupa featured high-quality, highly productive printing of indoor and outdoor signage and displays, professional photography and fine art. With a portfolio that now includes products from the acquired firm ColorSpan and assets acquired from NUR Macroprinters, HP has the industry's broadest offering of large-format printing solutions.

HP completed a range of global LFP deals at drupa and experienced customer momentum in the move to UV-curable printing in flexible media applications. Customers were especially impressed with the Scitex XP2700 Printer, the top-selling HP large-format product at drupa in terms of total revenues.

The new HP Designjet L65500 Printer – the first printer to utilize HP Latex Inks designed to reduce the environmental impact of printing – was one of the top draws in terms of traffic among the large-format products in the HP booth, signifying a high-level of interest leading up to the printer's expected commercial availability in 2009.

SPT-based solutions generate sizable interest

HP Specialty Printing Systems (SPS) and HP Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions (IHPS) drew high levels of customer interest. Both HP businesses demonstrate the capabilities of HP's Scalable Printing Technology (SPT) for market applications ranging from direct mail and transpromotional printing, to newspaper and book publishing and CD/DVD duplication.

HP SPS provides OEM inkjet printing systems, and is already a leading technology provider for the mail printing industry. The division's solutions in the HP booth included a technology demonstration four-color SPT imager capable of imprinting envelopes at speeds up to 20,000 pieces per hour, as well as a 17-inch wide monochrome imprinting system developed by OEM partner DJM Grafische Projecten B.V. running at speeds up to 600 feet (185 meters) per minute.

HP IHPS, the new HP Graphic Arts division responsible for the new HP Inkjet Web Press, announced the signing of several letters of intent during the show for companies that will participate in a beta program for the high-volume printing technology. The HP Inkjet Web Press is the first in a new category of digital presses that delivers breakthrough performance in format size, productivity, quality and economics for direct mail, transactional and transpromotional printing, and book and newspaper publishing. Beta users announced at drupa include leading European book printer CPI and U.S. firms O'Neil Data Systems and Taylor Corporation.