BOULDER, Colo. - InfoPrint Solutions Company, the joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announced that it is extending its flagship InfoPrint 5000 family of continuous forms, full-color systems with higher speed to enable customers to optimize operations.  The new versions are capable of printing twice as fast as current models, giving users the flexibility to support full-color applications such as TransPromo, books on-demand and direct mail, while reducing the total cost of print.
 
This announcement further enhances InfoPrint’s stance as an innovator in high-speed color, a position confirmed by market analyst firm InfoTrends. Their team highlighted in a recent report the success of InfoPrint 5000, currently used in full production around the world.
 
“We continue to offer industry-leading solutions that provide the best balance in the marketplace to meet customer requirements such as speed, reliability, print quality and ease of use,” said George Promis, InfoPrint’s Vice President of Production Color Solutions & Technology Alliances.    “Add to this our expertise in AFP, the best-of-breed presentation architecture for color production variable-data printing, and our broad-based professional services team, and the result is our customers are best positioned to deliver relevant and effective color output to their clients.” 
 
The new high speed models will be available in the second quarter of 2009, and run at speeds of 420 feet per minute or128 meters per minute. They provide additional flexibility in addressing specific application requirements and operational demands. Customers using the current models with speeds of 210 feet per minute, or 64 meters per minute, have investment protection with a field upgrade to the higher speed.
 
The InfoPrint 5000 family utilizes innovative piezo-electric, drop-on-demand inkjet technology with water-based pigment or dye inks that are resistant to fading and smearing, even on commonly used digital papers. The system includes powerful and extendable InfoPrint multi-computer printer controller technology and delivers high performance to expedite job completion and enable footprint consolidation.  It also supports a common open standard architecture for variable data color output, enabling customers to implement a robust, end-to-end full color solution to complement their current environment.
 
“The early successes of the InfoPrint 5000 underscore the opportunities provided by a productive and cost-effective color print engine, a tightly integrated and versatile front-end system, and the support offered by a solutions-oriented organization, such as the InfoPrint Solutions Company,” said Jim Hamilton, Group Director of InfoTrends Printing and Publishing Service. “Driven by a range of applications, including transaction, TransPromo, direct marketing, and publishing, the InfoPrint 5000 is breaking new ground in the high-speed continuous forms color world.”
 
The InfoPrint 5000 has been selected by customers in countries including Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.  Many InfoPrint 5000s are being used to combine pertinent personalized information and color on transactional documents for more effective marketing, such as incorporating a coupon for energy-efficient appliances on a monthly utility bill. The systems are also being used to produce books and booklets using a print-on-demand process.

For more information on the InfoPrint 5000 solution, go to http://www.infoprintsolutionscompany.com/internet/wwsites.nsf/vwwebpublished/print_ip5000home_us