PALO ALTO, Calif -- HP today announced that Mercury Print Productions, a Rochester, N.Y.-based print service provider (PSP), is bolstering its competitive advantage in the book publishing market by leveraging the high productivity and broad media compatibility of the new HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press.

The press, which prints 240 letter-size four-color images per minute or 960 letter-size monochrome images per minute, expands Mercury Print Productions' ability to win new work by offering the flexibility, quick turnaround and waste-reduction environmental benefits of digital to publishers facing growing demand for a range of educational books. Mercury, which produces textbooks, teacher's editions, workbooks and other materials for the educational market, is expanding its offerings with the increased productivity gained through this latest technology installation.

"Mercury Print Productions, which has operated HP Indigo presses since 2006, is a true pioneer in the advancement of book publishing through the use of digital printing technology," said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. "The company is now taking its competitive advantage to new heights with North America's first HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press."

Driving profitable growth with the HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press

Designed to offer digital productivity with true offset quality, the HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press is a roll-fed liquid electrophotographic printing dual-engine solution for high volumes of variable-data and short-run-static printing. The HP Indigo W7200 can produce up to 7.5 million letter-size color images, or 30 million monochrome letter-size images, per month. This high-volume capability helps PSPs drive profitable growth in on-demand and short-run book printing, personalized color direct mail, high-value transpromotional statement printing, photo specialty printing(1) and other applications.

The press prints up to seven colors and employs features such as PANTONE-licensed HP IndiChrome process-color imaging and spot-color inks, which offer brilliant, vivid imaging as well as unparalleled accuracy in color matching and corporate brand color reproduction. A standard in-line priming unit on the press enables compatibility with virtually any standard, off-the-shelf paper.

"The HP Indigo W7200's quality, speed and efficiencies are transforming the current limitations and scope of digital printing," said Christian Schamberger, vice president, Operations, Mercury Print Productions. "In a time when customers are changing the way that they look at inventory as to not tie up their cash flow, the press offers us the ability to provide cost-effective, high-quality products when they are needed at a price point that makes sense."

Streamlined workflow with the HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server

Mercury's new technology installation also includes HP's newest print server technology, HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server version 3.5, which offers improved redundancy in raster image processing (RIPing) for more reliable throughput and faster job processing.(2) The new server also offers powerful PDF transparency processing and enhanced connectivity to the Job Definition Format,(2) while enabling press compatibility with HP IndiChrome Plus seven-color process printing.

For graphic arts firms looking to leverage HP Indigo offset-quality color to enter the fast-growing transpromotional printing market, the new server also enables HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press compatibility with the Advanced Function Presentation data stream format used in transactional/transpromotional high-volume output.

HP is showcasing the new HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press and HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server version 3.5 at an open house event held today at the Mercury Print Production Book Division facility in Rochester, N.Y. The new solutions will be available worldwide next month and featured in HP's booth No. 1229 at the PRINT 09 trade show at McCormick Place in Chicago, Sept. 11-16.

More information about HP Graphics Solutions is available at http://www.hp.com/go/graphicarts.