Print21 is the longest running online news service for the Australian and New Zealand printing and graphic arts industry. Take a trip back in time and check out a selection of history highlights from our unrivaled news archive. This month ten years ago, HP first took up arms in the graphics arts and declared its intentions to be the top player in the graphics market. Still fresh in the Indigo driver's seat, HP came out swinging with it's own 'mini-drupa' to launch its first HP Inidgo digital press, the 5000. The rest, as they say, is history...
Originally published 12 February 2004
Hewlett Packard has finally declared its goal position in the global graphic communication market.
“We want to be number one,” said Executive VP, imaging and printing group Vyomesh ‘VJ’ Joshi.
Two years after its take-over of digital pioneer Indigo, HP has its “ducks in a row,” and is ready to do battle with Xerox, Canon, Heidelberg, Kodak and whoever else has staked a claim in the digital print market.
In a fully operational demonstration of all of its sheet and web presses, HP presented a ‘mini-drupa’ to the world media ten weeks before the real thing. With offerings that encompass toner, inkjet and liquid electrophotographic (formerly Indigo ElectroInk), technologies, HP is positioned to place digital image output devices at just about every level of the industry. Clearly, a lot of behind-the-scenes thinking and R&D has happened in the past two years.
First all HP-Indigo machine rolls out.
The HP Indigo 5000 is the first press that is 100% a result of the HP-Indigo cooperation, which actually began well before the take-over. Capable of printing 4,000 full colour A4 pages per hour, it images on virtually any substrate up to A3+. Great strides have been made in colour management with a fully configurable ICC-based system and HP’s own ‘CMYK Plus’ technology for extended gamut, automatic PANTONE replication and colour consistency across the range of other HP devices including large-format inkjet.
A three-tray paper feed system can be expanded to six or more and the delivery pile can take up to 6,000 sheets. Image quality is indiscernible to offset, the liquid ink makes sub-micron pigment particles possible. This is one for commercial printers to take very seriously. It will be launched first in the USA and Europe at around US$450,000, with Australian shipments expected by early 2005, according to local and Asia-Pacific manager Michael Mogridge. “If Australian printers who see the 5000 at drupa want it badly, we would recommend installing a 3050 and then upgrading when we can fulfill orders,” he said. The 3050 is essentially an improved 3000 using a series 2 engine.
Taking on Xerox and Canon.
The second surprise is HP’s entry into the highly competitive production colour copier/printer market with the HP Color 9850mfp. At 50 pages per minute in full colour, this toner-based unit is aimed squarely at the Xerox 2060 and Canon CLC markets, namely quick printers, copy shops and medium-to-large corporates. A range of finishing solutions is offered and it is rated at 150,000 pages per month duty cycle. Optional EFI tools, workflow and colour management complete the offering.
Coupled it with the closely-named 9085mfp, an 85 ppm mono copier/printer and HP has a complete document offering in the toner sphere, with small footprints and plenty of grunt for all but the largest quick printers and copy shops. Interestingly, two 9085mfps can be run in tandem and jobs distributed evenly, doubling print output to 170ppm, well into DocuTech territory!
The range of HP digital imaging devices now covers low volume colour lasers and inkjets, large format inkjet, commercial sheetfed machines and industrial web digital presses. Add to that scanners and a 5.2 megapixel digital camera, pre-optimised for print reproduction, and you can see this is a serious assault on the market.
HP generated over US$73 billion in sales last year. Anyone doubting its resolve to carve out a healthy share of the commercial digital print market should reserve judgement until drupa, and visit them in Hall 4, stand 4c23 where HP will have its largest display ever at a graphic arts exhibition.