GRANDVILLE, Mich. -- HP and X-Rite today announced a strategic partnership that aims at seamlessly integrating the worlds of inkjet printing and color management, delivering the first color managed inkjet solution with true plug and play color accuracy and consistency. By incorporating an embedded spectrophotometer based on the X-Rite Eye-One technology and controlled from an intuitive HP Color Center, the new HP Designjet Z Photo Series printers delivers creative professionals breakthrough color accuracy, consistency and superb ease of use, revolutionizing end-to-end color printing solutions. Together, HP and X-Rite have truly set the stage for seamless, transparent color management, which has long been referred to as the holy grail of color management. Both companies have a long tradition of delivering innovative solutions - constantly pushing the boundaries of performance and usability, at price points that open up entire new markets. In the case of color management, the two biggest barriers to adoption have continued to be usability and price. Color management has always been something that needed to be purchased and handled separately from the main task of printing. By integrating color management directly into the printer, HP and X-Rite have been able to overcome these barriers. "Both HP and X-Rite have always been at the forefront of creating stellar product experiences through innovation and design," Francis Lamy, CTO X-Rite said. "The new DesignJet Z printer series is the first result of our collaboration and will change the way creatives manage their workflow. Together, HP and X-Rite have raised the bar in large format printing, providing the industry with a new benchmark. Creatives no longer have to think about color management as a separate task - they just have to push the button." Mounted on the printer carriage with completely self-contained optics and electronics, the embedded spectrophotometer dramatically simplifies accurate color-matching, enabling automated ICC profiling and HP Advanced Closed-Loop Color Calibration. The user can create color profiles in minutes and get accurate color matches throughout the printing process. The optional HP Advanced Profiling Solution software, which has also been developed within the HP and X-Rite partnership includes X-Rite ProfileMaker intelligent gamut mapping algorithms and takes color sophistication one step further by adding the capability to calibrate monitors, and create and edit highly accurate CYMK profiles using X-Rite's patented built-in Small Testchart Technology. "The new HP Designjet Z photo printer series reaches a broader audience, including social photographers and freelance designers, who do not necessarily have the desire to become color management experts," said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Graphics and Imaging Business, HP. "Powered by Eye-One color technology, this solution delivers fully automated color control, stunning results, and breakthrough price performance. We are delighted about the exceptional user experience which the HP Designjet Z will deliver to the market." Designjet Series Z also provides optional extended support for its customer base. Powered by X-Rite Color Services, HP Color Expert Support offers customers a single point of contact to the best color management expertise in the world. The support covers color management software and hardware, RIPS, design applications, output devices, drivers and operating systems.