(May 29, 2008) HP today announced its latest digital printing products and technologies, which are designed to enable graphic arts customers to build their competitive advantage and successfully pursue profitable growth opportunities.

With the new solutions and the company’s recent acquisitions of NUR Macroprinters Ltd. and MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., HP now offers print service providers the industry’s largest all-digital color graphic arts portfolio. These moves also support HP’s Print 2.0 strategy to drive growth of digital pages and lower costs of printing for high-volume commercial markets.

By 2010, HP estimates that the value of pages printed in the global graphic arts market will be $663 billion. Nearly 80 percent of this growth(1) will be driven by marketing collateral, labels and packaging, publishing and signage, and displays – all markets that HP is targeting with its graphic arts portfolio.

Customers are already realizing the value provided by new solutions such as HP Indigo digital presses and HP Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions. The new technologies are being demonstrated publicly for the first time in the HP booth in Hall 8A at drupa 2008, the graphic arts industry’s preeminent tradeshow. Highlights include:

    •    Three new HP Indigo digital presses – including a 7000 model available now – that offer significantly higher break-even points than analog printing.

    •    A high-speed, 36-inch (914-mm) inkjet web press – one of the most advanced examples to date of the low-cost, high-productivity potential that exists with inkjet technology.

    •    The HP Designjet L65500 Printer – the first of a new category of large-format signage printers with HP Latex Inks that reduce the impact of printing on the environment and offer broad outdoor and indoor application versatility, while delivering quality and durability at high print speeds.(2)

    •    Fourteen new large-format media – including five recyclable(3) substrates that are compatible with HP Latex Printing Technologies. Specially treated HP media, such as HP Tyvek® Banner and HP High Density Polyethylene Reinforced Banner, provide image quality and durability when printing with both HP Latex Inks and HP low-solvent inks.

    •    The HP SmartStream Workflow Portfolio of print servers and software tools – for comprehensive print job management, from creation to fulfillment, including the new HP SmartStream Director.

    •    HP Indigo Print Care – enabling customers to gain uptime and achieve virtually continuous printing by providing diagnostic and print-quality assistance tools.

    •    A new HP Scalable Printing Technology process-color technology demonstration from HP Specialty Printing Systems.

HP also announced its intent to incorporate Scalable Printing Technology in future light-production-class products.

“The shift from analog to digital is fueling increased worldwide demand for access to relevant information and rich digital content, creating both challenges and opportunities for graphic arts businesses,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “With one of the most innovative portfolios of digital products, solutions and services, and an unwavering commitment to customers and the environment, HP is poised to help graphic arts customers succeed in this increasingly digital world.”

Increased productivity, new options for HP Indigo

The three new HP Indigo press models represent the most significant HP Indigo product launch since Indigo first sparked the digital color revolution 15 years ago.

The HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press, which is already running production at several print companies around the world, prints 120 high-quality, four-color, A4-size pages per minute. It prints large numbers of static jobs with run lengths ranging from one copy into the thousands, as well as variable-data work requiring the “every page is different” capabilities of digital. The HP Indigo 7000 offers low total cost of ownership for customers exceeding the 1-million-page level, significantly increasing the break-even point against offset printing.(4)

Lifetouch, a leading provider of professional portraits for schools, houses of worship and the retail market, is participating in the beta program for the new HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press as part of its commitment to implement new technologies. The press was installed in February and has already helped Lifetouch maintain the high standards of excellence and efficiency that make the firm a leader in photography, printing and book manufacturing.

“HP has been a key contributor to our success at Lifetouch,” said Dave Birkemeier, vice president, manufacturing, Lifetouch. “We are producing one of our highest-volume product lines on the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press and the quality and execution must be perfect. So far, the HP 7000 has done the job.”

The HP Indigo WS6000 and W7200 presses, which are launching at drupa, are highly productive web-fed digital presses. The WS6000 model, expected to be available worldwide in early 2009, offers twice the productivity of the successful HP Indigo press WS4500 and is targeted at labels and packaging converters with significant volumes of medium- and short-run jobs. The W7200 press is ideal for high-quality dedicated publishing, direct mail and transactional/ transpromotional offerings. It is expected to be available in the second half of 2009.

The HP Indigo press 5500, the company’s best-selling digital press, has been enhanced with options allowing greater productivity, including an additional feeder, an in-line connection to the HP Indigo UV Coater and a kit for enabling printing on thicker media.

With new HP Indigo Print Care, customers can gain remarkable uptime and virtually continuous printing. The offering provides proactive diagnostic and print-quality assistance tools, backed by live HP service center support, to help ensure quick and accurate detection and resolution of printing problems. Currently available on the new HP Indigo 7000, this package also will be offered with other HP Indigo presses and HP large-format printers in the future.

Customer and partner momentum for HP Inkjet Web Press

The HP Inkjet Web Press increases print productivity and lowers the cost of printing for high-volume commercial markets. Revitalizing wasteful, low-margin, analog-driven printing processes, the digital printing platform offers an unprecedented combination of print width, color quality, productivity and cost for graphic arts industry professionals in the direct mail, transactional and transpromotional printing, book publishing and newspaper industries.

Further showcasing the potential of Scalable Printing Technology, HP is demonstrating at drupa a 36-inch version of the HP Inkjet Web Press, which runs at speeds of up to 400 feet (122 meters) per minute at 600 x 600 dots per inch output – producing up to 3,200 A4 pages per minute. A key feature of the demonstration is finishing partner solutions, which will enable end-to-end production in HP target markets for high-volume inkjet. Partner solutions for the HP Inkjet Web Press will be available from EMT, Hunkeler, MBO, Muller Martini and Pitney Bowes.

HP also announced several new beta sites for the HP Inkjet Web Press, which is expected to be commercially available in fall 2009, including:

    •    O’Neil Data Systems, a national provider of data-driven publishing and marketing communication services for major U.S. organizations. For more than 30 years, the company has been recognized as a leader in technology-driven publishing services, including high-speed digital printing, automated composition, offset printing, warehousing, fulfillment, electronic document delivery and web applications.

    •    CPI, the world’s leading manufacturer of monochrome and two-color books and Europe’s leading book manufacturer. As a major supplier to the publishing industry, CPI has grown from $25 million in sales during its first year in 1996 to nearly $600 million in 2007.

    •    The Taylor Corporation, a Forbes Private 200 Company, has more than 100 subsidiaries and 14,000 employees. Taylor is one of the leading specialty print, media and marketing companies in North America. Taylor’s operating companies are focused on offering distinctive products, superior quality and exceptional service.

HP Latex Printing Technologies reduce environmental impact of printing

The 104-inch HP Designjet L65500 Printer is the first of a new category of large-format signage printers with HP Latex Inks and HP Wide Scan Printing Technology. Print service providers can expand their offerings with this single, versatile printer that can produce a variety of outdoor and indoor applications – from point-of-purchase displays, transit signage, wall murals and exhibition graphics to vehicle graphics and fleet marking – while delivering quality and durability at high print speeds.(2)

Prints produced with HP Latex Inks are odorless(5) and emit extremely low levels of volatile organic compounds. No special ventilation is required to meet occupational exposure limits, and there are no requirements for air discharge permits, facilitating an improved printing environment.(6) HP Latex Inks are not classified as hazardous waste(7) and are non-flammable and non-combustible. The inks also do not produce ozone emissions during printing, contain no hazardous air pollutants or sensitizers(8) and comply with the industry-leading certification, Nordic Swan.

HP’s 14 new large-format media include five recyclable(3) substrates that are compatible with HP Latex Printing Technologies. Using a new, proprietary HP media surface-treatment technology, HP Tyvek Banner and HP High Density Polyethylene Reinforced Banner provide high image quality and durability when printing with HP Latex Inks or HP low-solvent inks.

For seamless integration with customers’ existing workflows, HP is working with major software RIP vendors, including AIT, Caldera Graphics, ColorGATE, Ergosoft, ONYX Graphics, SA International and Wasatch, to develop solutions for the HP Designjet L65500 Printer. Additionally, HP will be launching a Registered Developer Program intended to ensure that adopters of HP Latex Printing Technologies will be able to select from a wide range of substrates suitable for new and existing applications.

End-to-end productivity in real-world workflows

The HP SmartStream Digital Workflow Portfolio is designed to meet the needs of a broad range of market segments and applications and to provide workflow management from job creation to fulfillment.

Portfolio components include the newly introduced HP SmartStream Director, a complete workflow solution powered by Press-sense; a full range of print servers; HP SmartStream Designer personalization software, which is now available for both HP Scitex and HP Indigo systems; and the HP SmartStream Color Manager Kit for HP Scitex equipment.

Most complete range of transpromotional printing solutions on display

At drupa, HP is showing for the first time as a company a complete range of transpromotional production solutions. In the direct mail profit center of the HP stand, visitors can see live printing demonstrations on new HP Indigo, Inkjet Web Press and Specialty Printing Systems solutions.

Workflow and finishing solutions for transpromotional print production on display include products from the HP SmartStream Digital Workflow Portfolio and Exstream Software, the variable-data publishing solutions company HP acquired earlier this year.

HP also is showing the first-ever technology demonstration of HP Scalable Printing Technology in a CMYK mail-printing solution, which is designed to bring color to the outside of the envelope for increased impact and stopping power.

In addition, several new HP Specialty Printing Systems solutions at drupa include a new, lower-total-cost monochrome digital printing alternative with OEM partner DJM, and another four-color Scalable Printing Technology offering, the SI1000 scanning imager solution for CD/DVD printing incorporated in a new product from OEM partner LSK Data Systems.

Leading the charge to deliver on the digital promise

As a result of its customers’ success, HP solutions are among the fastest-growing, most widely used solutions in their respective markets worldwide, including large-format commercial and industrial printing, large-format technical printing, high-volume digital production printing, digital label printing and mail addressing.

    •    HP Indigo press page volume has grown more than 40 percent each quarter since 2003, and presently HP Indigo presses worldwide print a total of 10 billion pages annually.

    •    HP large-format printers have increased in annual print volume by 25 percent, with 549 million square meters (1.8 billion square feet) printed on HP equipment in 2007 worldwide.

    •    Following the acquisitions of ColorSpan and NUR Macroprinters, HP is the world’s leading provider of UV-curable large-format printing.

Customers acquiring HP digital printing technology at drupa can sign up for special low-rate financing from HP Financial Services at the company’s booth in the HP Pavilion. On-site representatives will have full details on applicable offers for different regions of the world. Additional information is available at www.hp.com/hpfinancialservices.

More information on announcements from HP at drupa is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/drupa2008. Additional details on the HP Graphic Arts portfolio are available at www.hp.com/go/graphicarts.