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HP Energizes Enterprise Imaging and Printing Growth with
Revitalized Sales Approach, Expanded Portfolio Unveils new inkbased
printing technology for high-volume workloads
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 3, 2006 – HP today bolstered its enterprise imaging and printing
product portfolio and strategy, including plans to increase the size and expertise of its sales
force, to provide customers with unprecedented levels of service, information and business
insight.
As part of the announcement, the company unveiled an ink-based printing technology –
HP Edgeline – specifically designed to handle the high-volume workloads of businesses.
Printers using this technology feature printheads that span the width of a page – so only the
paper moves, not the printheads. This allows print jobs to be completed in one pass, quickly
and precisely with excellent quality.
HP additionally announced its largest-ever rollout of multifunction printers, which are
aimed at replacing copiers in businesses of all sizes. The company also is making new
investments in enterprise services and solutions, including the HP Halo Collaboration
Studio, which enables customers to do business in a life-like, face-to-face environment
regardless of the geographic distances separating them from their colleagues.
With these announcements, HP now provides enterprise imaging and printing customers
with a full suite of services and solutions enabled by a world-class product portfolio.
Investing in sales force, expertise and tailored offerings
As part of a revitalized approach to make it easier to do business with HP, the company
plans to hire hundreds of highly skilled sales consultants who will be dedicated to the
company’s top 2,300 accounts. These experts will engage customers in conversations that
go beyond simple cost cutting to understanding how to apply the information enabled by
the imaging and printing devices on the network to build competitive advantage.
HP’s strategy includes establishing teams of specialists that can address customers’ broad
business environments as well as their specific IT and end-user challenges. In addition to an
account manager, each team will include specialists in technology, services and business
processes with knowledge of the workflows, vertical applications and HP capabilities
relevant to their customer’s specific needs.
Finally, HP plans to tailor some of the more than 200 imaging and printing solutions within
its portfolio to build industry-specific offerings for major vertical markets in the public and
commercial sectors. Delivering proven expertise to new customers, the vertical solutions
will address critical business needs such as improving processes, operational efficiencies, cost savings and revenue.

“By leveraging our strengths in IT and our expertise in imaging and printing, HP is best-positioned to capture, manage and deliver the intelligence that enterprise customers need to
improve their business processes,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging
and Printing Group, HP. “This is not only about cutting costs. It’s about using HP’s services
and solutions to help customers manage business information more efficiently to improve
productivity and competitive advantage.”
HP Edgeline Technology: Redefining business printing

The first-of-its-kind design architecture of HP Edgeline Technology uses page-wide
printheads to distribute ink rapidly and precisely in one pass. With the versatility and
scalability to meet many customer needs, the technology will allow HP to expand its printer
business into markets such as retail printing solutions, industrial printing and high-volume
office printing, which together will represent an estimated $30 billion-plus market
opportunity by 2009.(1)

HP Edgeline Technology already powers the recently introduced retail photo kiosk, the HP
Photosmart Express Station, as well as the HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab printer –
both of which produce photo lab-quality prints in as fast as five seconds.

This spring, HP plans to unveil this patented technology in the first device that combines
the benefits of ink and laser. The company expects the products using this technology to
redefine business printing with some of the best printing speeds,(2) operating costs(3) and
reliability(4) in its class while providing excellent text and graphics print quality using
specially formulated HP Vivera inks.
“With the Edgeline announcement from HP, we believe that the promise of inkjet for wide
deployment in the higher end of the workgroup is close to being realized,” said Charlie Corr,
group director, InfoTrends. “To put it simply, this is a big deal.”
Largest multifunction printer rollout in company history

HP’s new multifunction printer (MFP) lineup adds to the HP LaserJet portfolio, which
offers the industry’s most complete set of options for both enterprise and small- to midsize
business customers.

Highlights include:
• HP LaserJet M3035 MFP – A compact, affordable work team MFP that delivers 35 pages
per minute with exceptional output and a convenient stapler. It also includes the new HP
Easy Select Control Panel, an intuitive touch-screen that visually walks users through
procedures and assists with setup and troubleshooting.(5) Priced starting at $1,999.(6)

• HP LaserJet M4345 MFP – The next generation of the No. 1 selling device in its class,
the M4345 offers printing, copying, optional faxing and advanced digital sending with
paper handling, finishing and the HP Easy Select Control Panel. Priced starting at
$2,599.(6)

• HP LaserJet M5035 MFP – HP’s first and the industry’s fastest desktop, wide-format
MFP, the M5035 provides cost-effective wide-format printing and copying, faxing and
stapling options, with advanced digital sending and the HP Easy Select Control Panel.
Priced starting at $3,999.(6)

• HP LaserJet CM1015 MFP – The world’s smallest color laser MFP, the CM1015 uses HP
ColorSphere toner to provide great color output and high performance at a price that
makes it the first color laser MFP to start under $500.
(6)
HP also introduced the efficient, monochrome HP LaserJet P3005 series. Fast, featurepacked
and network capable with optional two-sided printing, the series is ideal for document-intensive, small work team environments requiring high-quality printing with low
maintenance. Priced starting at $549.(6)
To improve the effectiveness of general office documents and marketing collateral, the new
HP Color LaserJet CP4005 offers durable, high-performance color printing with easy
sharing and low operating costs. The series is designed for HP ColorSphere toner, which
provides stunning high-quality prints, and is priced starting at $1,299.(6)
More information regarding the products mentioned above, as well as other versions within
the products series, is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/enterprise2006.
Partnering to meet customer needs

In addition to developing a portfolio of security, document capture and output management
solutions and services, HP has forged relationships with top solution providers to address a
wide variety of customer needs. HP helps customers reduce operational costs while
improving productivity, ensuring compliance with government regulations and increasing
IT efficiency with companies such as:
• Capella Technologies’ Megatrack Agent – Capella now offers a job accounting and
security solution that is fully integrated with HP Web Jetadmin, the industry’s leading
management software.

• eCopy Desktop – HP has selected eCopy as the desktop solution for its MFP users,
allowing them to manage, modify and share portable document format (PDF) documents
and making it easy to incorporate paper-based information into electronic business
processes. Customers can scan documents directly from an HP MFP to eCopy Desktop
using a new software utility from eCopy.

• Kofax Ascent – Kofax has integrated the Ascent platform with HP MFPs to automate
information captured from scanned business documents and forms, delivering the content
into an organization’s business application or database.

• AutoStore – NSi’s AutoStore will be resold by HP as a Premier Partner solution to offer
customers a solution for scanning into existing content management and line of business
applications.

• Omtool AccuRoute – Omtool now offers an enhanced version of its enterprise document
capture solution, AccuRoute, that is designed to work with HP MFPs.
Two additions to HP Output Management Solutions portfolio include HP International
Printing for HP Output Server, which accepts Unicode-based documents from SAP and
other enterprise applications and transforms the information, intelligently sending output
to multiple destinations. Also, HP Output Management Web Console: Job Manager, which
is a web-based tracking and management HP Output Server utility that provides single logon
authentication and access across single and multiple domains.
Additional highlights
Rounding out HP’s enterprise printing push is an update to HP Web Jetadmin, new
document management and security services, an agreement with Standard Register and
continued expansion of the HP Halo Collaboration Studio.

• HP Web Jetadmin 8.1 now includes Report Generation Plug-in 3.1, which enables
customers to conduct more scheduled reports than before and perform asset utilization
tracking that aids in understanding cost of ownership and planning for future purchases.
HP Web Jetadmin is key to converting information across the network to true insight that allows enterprise customers to save costs and improve efficiency.
• New HP Document Capture and Security Assessment and Document Capture and Security
Delivery Services provide an analysis of business document processes as well as how to
improve and secure them. The result is increased employee productivity, better
compliance with regulatory actions, improved security and a single point of contact.
• Standard Register – A premier document services provider, Standard Register and HP have
signed an agreement designed to provide customers with increased visibility and control
beyond the desktop and into production and external print environments. This
relationship extends the capabilities of HP’s Managed Print Services division by
leveraging Standard Register’s proven suite of document services and enterprise software.
• The HP Halo Collaboration Studio delivers tremendous value for enterprise customers
who need to connect teams located around the globe. The Halo Video Exchange Network
is now available on five continents in 15 countries, while the HP Halo customer base has
grown 233 percent since its initial launch late last year. This growth can be attributed to
new customer wins such as Canon as well as organic growth from existing customers such
as AMD and Novartis. Halo provides a natural, personal experience across distance that
enables companies to connect in real time with no perceived delay and is operated with
only a few clicks of a mouse.
More information regarding the announcements in this news release is available in an online
press kit at www.hp.com/go/enterprise2006.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally.
The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home
computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2006, HP
revenue totaled $90.0 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is
available at www.hp.com.
Note to editors: HP news releases are available via RSS feed at www.hp.com/hpinfo/rss.html.
(1) Market opportunity by 2009 based on HP internal research as of October 2006. Retail photo printing – a
$7.7 billion market (photo kiosk, photo mini lab and creative output), industrial printing – a $9.8 billion
market (light production) and department class, color MFP office printing – a $16.6 billion dollar market.
Combined, Edgeline represents more than a $30 billion dollar market opportunity by 2009 for HP.
(2) Compared to department color laser MFPs priced below $22,000. Compared to retail photo kiosks with one
printer per kiosk, based on fastest rated print speeds of 4 x 6-inch photos. Speeds as published by manufacturers
as of August 2006. Test methods vary.
(3) For office printing, compared to department-class color laser multifunction products. For retail photo
solutions, compared to competitive 4 x 6-inch output of retail photo kiosks with a single
printer. Operating costs are the combined price per page of service, repair parts and consumables
(exclusive of paper) over a monthly timeframe, based on manufacturers’ list pricing as of August 2006.
HP office printing costs based on estimated ink prices and preliminary yield. HP photo printing of 4 x 6-
inch photos based on list prices and published yield.
(4) For office printing, compared to department-class color laser multifunction products. Based on independent
third-party data, HP testing and internal review of competitive products. For retail photo solutions, compared
to competitive 4 x 6-inch output of retail photo kiosks with a single printer. Based on HP testing and internal
review of competitive products. Test methods may vary between categories. As of August 2006.
(5) HP Easy Select Control Panel available in all new small work team and workgroup printers.

I can't download this file.

not able to open the update on hp news. please help or if possible e-mail directly to my mail address. thanks

check out the story in the above message forum

Isn't this kind of old news?
Both Ricoh and Brother (and Riso) have hi-speed inkjet, at least as prototypes. I think it is a matter of very little time before everybody sells this kind of technology.

HP plans to introduce 50ppm business color inkjet in 2007, target list price of $8K.

Hp also plans to take dominate position in the market place with thier ink technology. Riso/Olympus ink technology is inferior when it comes to business color, also all ricoh has is the 615C which is 4 or 6ppm in color.

Key technology is the print head which stays still while the paper is passed under the print head.

Expansion of sales force> Where will they get these people? Probably from our ranks, I see this is a big run by HP to finally accomplish what they set out to do a few years ago.

Art Post

Thanks for the download.

If HP cant get a CEO that they can trust, how are they going to find 2k+ quality sales people?

My Group is quite a large reseller of HPmfps and I have always believed that if they ever got the product mix right, and the support infrastructure concentrating on true customer service, then they would probably achieve their original goals in this market.

Are they now on course to achieve this I wonder?

When HP truly competes in the Market of duplexing and finishing with docfeeders they will fight with all the problems that the copier manufactures deal with.I admit i have not sold for quite a few years so i am not aware of what they offer but I do buy around 400K in parts and supplies every month so while HP will drop their prices for the main frames It will still cost X amount to make a print. We have ink as well as all the parts or kits the machine uses. Like every thing else once we look at the real cost of their product and unwrap everything we will still compete. Lets also face the fact the HP will deal in a whole new world if they want a great team of sales people the only way they will get that is to get the good ones already in the business and to do that they will need to compensate them. How many of you think you will make any profit on a 3 or 4 k sales price when you were getting that in profit on some deals. HP will probally need to go the way that Xerox did selling through authorized agents that are willing to take the chance that HP can compensate them in some other way besides profit.HP will of course make all of their profit from aftermarket not initial offering. And that is where they will try to compensate their people but even if they don't figure out the aftermarket side, they will have a hard time with compnesation for years to come.And how long will they compete if they can't kep the good sales consultants? This is just my opinion.
thanks

Here is an article from IA in reference to ink technology!

Here's another report from LYRA that says HP will cut into market with new HP Edgeline!

Lyra: HP's Edgeline To Impact Copier/Printer Market
Lyra Research Alerts Copier Vendors: HP Is Coming. New Edgeline technology to lower inkjet costs, boost speed, print quality.

NEWTON, MA - Lyra Research, the digital imaging authority, hosted a live Webcast called Will Edgeline Finally Give HP the Edge in the Copier Wars? on Thursday, November 16, at 2 p.m. eastern standard time (7 p.m. or 19:00 UTC). The webinar archive is available on the Lyra website.

HP to be Highly Competitive
HP is targeting the convenience color copier market with its new Edgeline technology, and Lyra believes the results of this new effort will be much different from HP's previous attempts to penetrate the copier market. Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Xerox, and other copier vendors may have something to worry about.

HP announced Edgeline at an October 3 analyst briefing. Edgeline is an extension of the thermal ink jet scalable printing technology (SPT) that HP announced in July 2005. Basically, Edgeline puts print heads built with SPT technology into a page-wide array, meaning that the print heads remain stationary during the printing process while paper is passed beneath them. At the briefing, HP stated that it would launch a departmental color copier based on Edgeline technology in the spring of 2007. Assuming that the machine has the same color print speed (70 ppm) as the device that was demonstrated at the October 3 press conference, the new model will be competitive with the fastest convenience color copiers that are currently on the market.

HP Finally Hits 'Sweet Spot' of Market
"With this new model, HP will finally be playing in the 'sweet spot' of the digital copier market. Shipments of convenience color copiers in North America are growing at around 15 percent per year, and revenue is growing even faster at approximately 30 percent per year," states Steve Reynolds, senior analyst at Lyra. "As for the technology itself, I believe that Edgeline is a distinct threat to all laser-based color printers and MFPs."

Lyra forecasts that HP will claim a 2 percent share of the worldwide market for convenience color copiers in 2007, based on sales of approximately 7,000 units. Lyra's projection is based on the assumption that the HP product will start to sell slowly, with early adopters purchasing the device first and the bulk of the market waiting to assess the results of other firms' early deployments of the new technology. In 2008, the first full year of shipments, HP's market share will rise significantly.

Report Available
Lyra will publish a report on HP's Edgeline technology in November to coincide with the Webcast. The report, also entitled Will Edgeline Finally Give HP the Edge in the Copier Wars?, contains more in-depth information than will be available in the Webcast. The report covers HP's previous assaults on the copier market, the breakthrough LaserJet 4345mfp, new MFP models that HP announced during the October briefing, and Edgeline technology and its prospects. The report will sell for $1,499, and Webcast attendees will be eligible for a 10 percent discount. For more information or to order the report, call Sandy Tobin at 617-454-2612 or visit www.lyra.com and go to "Industry Reports."

Lyra Research's Webcasts
Lyra Research's Webcasts allow you to attend industry veterans' engaging presentations on the digital imaging industry's hot-button topics without leaving your office. Lyra's Webcasts offer imaging industry executives, marketers, and analysts an accessible and informal resource for insight and useful data points on timely issues in the hard copy hardware and supplies industries. Attendees need only an Internet connection and browser and audio capability. No special software is required.

Printer or copier: which holds the edge?


HP's upcoming `Edgeline' technology may be an inflection point for imaging technology







PAGE-WIDE PRINTING: HP's Edgeline printhead — and its first application in the Photosmart Express retail kiosk.

COMPARED TO the frenetic pace of change in the world of computers, life has been much more laid back in the business of its principal peripheral: the printer.

Truly remarkable technological breakthroughs have been few and far between, particularly in the last quarter century. Consider the major landmarks in printer history, some of which also impacted copier technology: Chester Carlson and Otto Kornei jointly invented a copying process based on electrostatic energy as early as 1937. It was not until 1949 that it was turned into a commercial copier by the Haloid Company that was later known by the name of the product: Xerox.

Print engine


The original laser printer was also conceived at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre in 1969 and released as the Xerox 9700 in 1977. The Japanese Canon created a print engine for a desktop laser printer and sold the technology to Hewlett Packard — a company synonymous with (and often mistakenly credited with inventing) the modern commercial laser printer.

The dot matrix printer was introduced in 1971 by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), printing 80 columns using a matrix of 5 by 7 dots for each character.

In 1979, the inkjet printer was invented at HP Labs , but the first commercial inkjet printer — the Thinkjet — had to wait till 1984. The year also saw the launch of the first HP Laserjet.

One interesting variant of the laser printer was pioneered by the Japanese maker Oki in 1987: the LED printer replaced the laser with a dense array of light emitting diodes.

An alternative


In 1987, HP introduced the Paintjet, the first colour inkjet printer, while QMS launched the first colour laser printer, ColourScript Laser 1000 in 1993. Epson has created an alternative to the heated bubble inkjet process using the piezo-electric effect

The 1990s and the early years of this century have seen little by way of innovation with the possible exception of Canon's development of ink droplets as small as a picolitre (1 trillionth of a litre) — and PictBridge, a new standard to directly connect digital cameras to printers.

But HP announced a new breakthrough technology for ink-based printers that promises to make them not only as fast as laser printers but as the best copiers available today.

Lyra Research, an independent U.S.-based analyst hosted a global Webcast where it carefully evaluated the claims made by HP and concluded that this might just turn out to be an inflection point where printers challenge the colour copier industry by matching their speed, performance and what is called TCO: the total cost of ownership.

The technology is called Edgeline and it is in some ways quite radical: In the inkjet printers of today, a small matchbox-sized print head, moves across the width of the printer, inking a line at a time. Once a line is printed, the carriage advances the paper by the width of a line and the print head prints the next line.

Edgeline simplifies this drastically — by using a print head that is as wide as the width of the paper. This way, the entire page width is inked at one go — and only the paper advances from line to line, leaving the print head stationary.

By cutting the moving elements by half, the printer saves on mechanical complexity and allows pages to be printed at speeds up to 70 pages per minute (ppm) — and up to 100 ppm in light production models. Additionally the number of nozzles in this much-wider print head can be increased to over 10,000, producing a laser-like sharpness.

Lyra's senior analyst Steve Reynolds mentions that the Kodak and Olympus-Riso have similar wide-print head solutions for the high-end ink based printers — but he sees the real disruption from Edgeline coming in the copier arena.

HP has deployed Edgeline in the printers at the back of the Photosmart Express Station digital printing kiosks in the U.S. — though the width is just enough for a 4 x 6 inch print.

In early 2007, it is expected to unveil the first photo printers and standard width multi function printers using Edgeline — and eventually the technology may allow it to challenge the light production printer/copier market.

Imaging innovation


If as promised, the TCO of an Edgeline printer is indeed significantly lower, it might be time to take back what we said about the dearth of innovation in the imaging business.

I have been waiting for this for years. I thought of this 5 years ago. But even though the are a lot of pros to the system there are also a lot of cons. You will need to run paper designed for inkjets that costs more because on plain paper the ink runs an you get jagged edges on you print. Ink prints do not have any shine at all, you will have to use gloss paper to get any type of shine on the print. The print heads will not last forever, Canon has the lifetime printheads on their inkjet printers and I can tell you from experience they do not last and they cost about half as much as the printer. My guess is the printheads will be so expensive that when they go it will be time to junk the machine and buy another one. It will also need to be programmed to run a test print daily to keep the ink from clogging the printhead. If the ink is water based it will evaporate even if you are not printing so people that go several days without printing will get very low yield. These are some of the cons I can think of off hand, and I'm sure there will be more, so I don't think we will be out of a job anytime soon.

Great info!! Please keep us informed as much as you can.

I found this blig the other day, HP and the rest of the copier industry

HP's Shadow -- more from the Lyra Symposium

The anticipated panel discussion on the MFP market finally came, as the final session before lunch. The panel was moderated by Steve Reynolds, Senior Lyra Research analyst, and included David Bates, of Xerox Corporation, Don Hsieh, Konica Minolta, Mark Meisberger, Samsung Electronics America, Paul Preo, IBM Printing Systems Division, and Chris Privon, HP (NYSE HPQ).

While the Ricoh representative didn’t make it, the joke (?) was that with IBM Printing Systems on the panel, wasn’t that now all the same? And the discussion did go to their deal announced last week, and what it meant for the industry at large and Lexmark in particular. Steve Reynolds interjected that the word following the deal from IBM executives was that existing vendor relationships would remain and indeed be strengthened, but admitted doubt, with Ricoh themselves as well as Samsung, as an incumbent Ricoh laser supplier, seeming to have an inside track in the long run.

Much of the remainder of the discussion during the panel continued the theme from the two previous speakers – Chris Privon of HP, on "High-Performance Innovation in Business Printing", and Steve Reynolds, with a presentation entitled "Originals and Copies: Discussing Edgeline Technology and Other Office MFP Trends". Edgeline is HP’s inkjet-based printer/copier technology announced in 2006, currently deployed in their photo kiosk products, and "coming to an office printer near you" in Spring 2007, and creating waves in the industry along the way. In fact Reynolds’ presentation was admittedly divided into three parts: 1) an update on the traditional copier segments and players, 2) HP’s entry into the copier markets with the HP 4345mfp (which he describes as an “overnight success ten years in the making”), and 3) the looming presence of Edgeline-based products.

It’s interesting to observe the shadow that HP casts across the printing industry, even in the copier category, with its strong traditional players like Xerox, Canon, and Ricoh. HP’s relentless pursuit of market opportunities is amazing to watch in this industry as a whole and at this conference specifically. They openly tout business-oriented goals like the "$30 Billion opportunity" they refer to in their Edgeline discussions, but at the same time strive to best meet customer needs knowing that’s what will determine victory in the end.

posted by Jim Lyons

another update for HP Edgeline

Simple question, big idea


HP engineers began developing HP Edgeline Technology by asking, “How can we make printing better?” Leveraging an unrivaled history in printing and imaging and some of the best engineering and design talent on the planet, HP developed a printing solution that would deliver excellent performance, reliability and cost-efficiency to meet the printing needs of businesses everywhere.
The HP Edgeline Technology advantage


HP Edgeline Technology is an ink-based printing engine designed with printheads that span the width of a page. In other words, with HP Edgeline Technology, the paper moves, not the printhead. It’s that simple.

For increased printing speeds, HP Edgeline Technology printers use large, stationary printheads—arranged in a line—to dispense ink across the entire width of the page as the paper passes beneath them. The result is more accurate ink-drop placement and breathtaking print speeds for crisp, print-shop quality output—fast. Plus, the sophisticated printhead design delivers outstanding reliability, allowing for more printing up-time, less maintenance and a lower total cost of operation over time. To complement the new printhead design and increased speeds, HP has specially designed Vivera inks for each current printing system with HP Edgeline Technology to deliver leading print quality.
Next-generation printing


HP Edgeline Technology is already in use in HP Photosmart Express Station retail photo kiosks that deliver lightning-fast prints of digital photos. HP Photosmart Express Stations produce 4 x 6-inch photos fast—20 prints in about two minutes—at a price per photo that rivals the traditional photo lab. The photo print quality is outstanding. The HP Photosmart Express Station uses HP Vivera professional inks and a patented 6-ink system that prints smudge- and fade-resistant, brilliant photos that last for generations. HP Edgeline Technology also powers the recently introduced HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab printer, which delivers photo lab–quality prints, fast—as fast as five seconds per print—from a compact, high-throughput mechanism that plugs into a retailer’s existing photofinishing system. Color image quality without compromising on speed or cost: it’s HP Edgeline Technology and HP Vivera inks that make it possible.
HP isn’t stopping there


You'll start seeing HP Edgeline Technology in many more high-performance HP products—including industrial printers and light production—in the future. In Spring 2007, this patented technology will redefine business printing with the combined benefits of ink and laser in a single device: fast printing speeds, excellent print quality for text and graphics, a low cost per page and HP world-class reliability. Stay tuned for more on HP Edgeline Technology.

I'm taking the pre-req's for the edgeline now. It's a product that has a niche market. The paper feeds from the tray up a verticle transport across the top of the machine, down the other side to a decurler. The decurler bends the paper so it will fit the drum better. A bonding agent first sprayed onto the paper before the ink is applied. It next goes to a dryer and back out to the decurler to be duplexed or sent to the finisher. It's a variable speed printer. Heavy ink coverage may result in it being sent around the drum as many as twelve times until it's dried. It's also much slower with 11x17. The models are CM8060 and CM8050.

When purchasing printers or multifunction copiers for an office, trade-offs are typically made. Is the speed appropriate for a workgroup or a department? Is color or monochrome output sufficient? If color, would ink technology or the faster laser technology be better?

Typically, if color output is needed, the user must decide between the photo quality of an ink technology or the slightly more grainy output of a color laser. Of course, the color laser can print much faster than the ink technology so that is also a factor. If a large volume of output is necessary, the user must choose a color laser because ink printing is just too slow and ink machines are not built to handle volumes of paper. In many cases however, laser printing is more costly to print (per page) than ink technology.

Edgeline technology from Hewlett Packard promises to deliver the best of both ink and laser technologies. It will bring low machine cost, low operating costs, fast print speeds and photo quality output.

What is Edgeline?

Edgeline is the result of 4 years and 1.4 billion dollars of research and development by Hewlett Packard. What they created was a patented process to economically manufacture an inkjet printhead that spans the entire width of a printed page. This means that during printing, only the paper moves not the printhead. Combined with new ink formulations, the speed of the printer can be increased to 71 pages per minute with outstanding image quality. The printheads are very reliable, designed to last for 2 million printed pages or the useful life of the machine itself.

Three Key Elements

The three main features of this system are a printhead that spans the entire printed page, moving the paper under the fixed printhead, and an ink system that can adapt to different requirements. The new ink contains colorants that immobilize rapidly on the paper to ensure consistent dot size, high color saturation, and high optical density. Prints dry rapidly at 70+ pages-per-minute, resist smear (even from a highlighter) and are water resistant.

Will the quality be good?

Edgeline technology also includes intelligent and self-calibrating writing systems to deliver consistent image quality. The printheads are designed to print at 1200dpi. This equals the best native resolutions of current products. The printheads also know when a specific nozzle is acting up and it's duties can be passed to an adjacent nozzle. There will also be a 2-pass option for further increasing print quality.

Will it be more expensive?

Pricing has not been released as of the date of this writing, but the base technology is already in use and HP is promising best-in-class operating costs as well as reliability, quality and speed. The machine itself should not cost more than current color laser MFPs due to the much simpler mechanics. There will be no high voltage power supply, laser scanner mechanisms, transfer belts, or fuser assemblies. And those are just the major components. In fact, the machine will only need to move paper passed the printheads. This is much simpler than any current design.

When will it arrive?

Multifunction devices utilizing this technology are expected to be shipping during the second quarter of 2007. Because of all its advantages, it is very likely that you will see this technology in an office near you before the end of this year.

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 11, 2007 - HP today unveiled ground-breaking, ink-based color multifunction printers (MFP), enhanced management offerings, and a new portfolio of services and solutions to help enterprise customers optimize their printing environments.

The new ink-based multifunction printers, the HP CM8060/CM8050 Color MFPs with HP Edgeline Technology, offer a powerful new printing engine based on the company’s $1.4 billion investment in Scalable Printing Technology.

Enabling enterprise and small and midsize business customers to improve productivity and control operating costs, the MFPs deliver a powerful combination of features, including high-speed performance,(1) best-in-class operating costs(2) and reliability,(3) excellent output quality, and intuitive usability.

“Building on HP’s MFP industry leadership, HP is extending our portfolio with new Edgeline color MFPs,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “The Edgeline offerings will transform the industry, providing customers a multifunction printing solution with unprecedented ease of use that can improve productivity and lower color operating costs by up to 30 percent.”

HP also announced HP Web Jetadmin 10.0, a major upgrade to the industry’s leading printing fleet management software solution, and the new HP Universal Print Driver 4.0 for Windows®, which is compatible with Windows Vista™.

Aiming to capture a significant portion of the $147 billion enterprise printing market which the company has been approaching with renewed vigor since October 2006, HP is increasing its global sales force, offering new innovations, and leveraging services and solutions across its portfolio. Today’s introductions provide tools customers need to optimize their printing infrastructure, better manage their environment and improve workflows.

Redefining business printing with HP Edgeline Technology

The total market opportunity for HP Edgeline Technology is expected to be more than $30 billion by 2009.(4) The HP CM8060 and CM8050 Color MFPs are designed for the customers who print in high-volume and offer the combined benefits of ink and laser in a single device.

“We’ve been testing the HP CM8060 Color MFP in the office for a few months and without a doubt it is better than other devices we’ve seen before,” said Michael A. Lindstrom, group vice president, Engineering, ECCO Group. “It’s extremely user friendly and intuitive which is a nice change because for the first time we didn’t feel like we needed an engineering degree to use it. Even though we have a beta version of the HP CM8060 Color MFP, we’d keep this device as is rather than switch back to a copier machine. HP has hit a homerun with this one.”

The HP CM8060/CM8050 Color MFPs with Edgeline Technology share all features in common, except that the HP CM8060 prints at an accelerated rate - an average of 60 pages per minute (ppm) black and white and an average of 50 ppm color on plain papers - while the HP CM8050 prints at an average of 50 ppm black and white and an average of 40 ppm color on plain papers. The new multifunction printers also feature:

HP Easy Select Control Panel - an award-winning 10-inch color touch-screen that clearly displays all available applications and settings.
HP AutoNav - an automatic navigation tool that reduces help desk calls by empowering users with an intuitive way to resolve problems through features such as live action video, step-by-step control panel instructions, and a series of LED guide lights and door sensors that act as “digital breadcrumbs” to easily guide users to the source of a problem.
Innovative pricing - usage-based pricing that offers savings of up to thirty percent on color printing and copying; and varying pricing for professional color usage, general office color, and black-and-white. The new HP Color Accent feature also further reduces costs by charging the black-and-white price for pages that use small amounts of color.
Enhanced supplies - New HP Vivera office inks and a bonding agent produce fast-drying, vibrant color images and crisp text quality at any speed on plain paper, and deliver water and smear-resistant results, even with normal highlighter use.
Service and support options - Sold direct from HP or through channel partners with service and support options, customers can lease or purchase the new MFPs from HP with Managed Print Services with multi-tier pricing, Smart Printing Services, or Care Pack(5) contracts with page allowance options exclusively for enterprise customers.
Improve productivity by effectively managing the imaging and printing environment

Now in its 10th year, HP Web Jetadmin is an imaging and printing fleet management software solution for remotely installing, configuring and managing a wide variety of HP and non-HP network peripherals using only a standard web browser. HP Web Jetadmin 10.0 boasts new features - such as improved support with Active Directory Services, enhanced security, a more intuitive user interface, integrated usage reporting with additional customizable reporting capabilities, links to HP Instant Support and new supplies management capabilities for multiple devices.

“HP Web Jetadmin 10.0 offers some of the best ease-of-use and performance capabilities in the industry. HP has obviously spent a lot of thought and effort in improving the ease-of-use of version 10.0 as well as enhancing its functionality,” said Ted Needleman, senior director, Industry Analysts, Inc. “HP Web Jetadmin 10.0 is an easy to use, powerful tool to help you manage your fleet of printers and MFPs more cost-effectively and efficiently, whether that ‘fleet’ is just a few, or a few hundred devices.”

New HP Web Jetadmin Consulting Services will make recommendations for the management infrastructure based on Web Jetadmin capabilities. HP Web Jetadmin 10.0 is expected to be available for download on April 30 at www.hp.com/go/webjetadmin.
By providing real-time print job and device information, the award-winning HP Universal Print Driver (UPD) for Windows empowers users to resolve issues themselves, increase productivity and reduce help desk staffing. The new UPD 4.0 includes a more intuitive user interface, Windows Vista compatibility, and two operating modes - Dynamic Mode, better suited for mobile users, and Traditional Mode, better for those workers in an office environment.

HP UPD virtually eliminates the need for IT staff to manage individual print drivers and makes printing easy for users by providing one driver and one interface for virtually all networked and direct-connected HP printers. The HP UPD allows IT staff to rely on a single driver for virtually all HP LaserJets when migrating to Windows Vista rather than spending valuable time qualifying hundreds of drivers. The HP Universal Print Driver, version 4.0, is expected to be available at the end of April at www.hp.com/go/UPD.
To help IT staff better manage their printing environment, HP also expanded its printing supplies portfolio, enabling business customers to further control costs and bring high-quality marketing collateral production in-house:

Dual Packs of HP LaserJet Black Print Cartridges help reduce printing costs for businesses that print in high volumes, providing double the print volume in a convenient, high-value package. The new dual packs deliver professional results and reliable, trouble-free printing at approximately 10 percent below the price of two individually sold cartridges. HP has seven new packs starting at $202.(6)
HP’s new Brochure Paper for Edgeline, designed specifically for use with the new MFPs with Edgeline Technology, enables business customers to easily and affordably produce professional-quality glossy brochures, flyers and marketing materials right in the office. Offered in both 8.5 x 11-inch and 11 x 17-inch sizes with prices starting at $ 30.99.(6)
HP Tri-fold Brochure Paper for Color Lasers is a new heavyweight pre-scored paper that allows for easy, precise folding with a clean edge, and is perfect for professional documents. The paper features HP’s proprietary coating technology that gives marketing brochures a smooth and glossy finish with bold colors and crisp text. Offered in letter size, 8.5 x 11-inches, for $24.99(6).
Reduce total costs by optimizing infrastructure

HP also introduced the following products to allow customers to take control and optimize their imaging and printing infrastructures.

The newly redesigned HP Color LaserJet CM4730 MFP adds the innovative and award-winning HP EasySelect control panel, a color touch-screen common across all HP MFPs that clearly displays all available applications and settings. The ideal workgroup-class color MFP is priced starting at $4,999.(6)
Designed for medium to large-size organizations, the HP 9250c Digital Sender is equipped with a physical, pull-out keyboard, provides a fast and secure method to digitize paper documents and electronically distribute, archive and organize them easily and efficiently. Priced starting at $3,199.(6)
The HP JetDirect 630n IPv6 Gigabit Ethernet Print Server and Jetdirect en 1700 IPv6 Print Server include internal and external options for highly efficient printer networking. Priced starting at $149(6) for the HP Jetdirect en 1700 IPv6 and $389(6) for the HP JetDirect 630n IPv6 Gigabit Ethernet Print Server.
Enhance business results through improved workflow

HP helps its customers automate manual processing to streamline information workflows, resulting in greater compliance readiness while reducing the risk of error. These solutions improve business results by increasing the operational effectiveness of customers.

HP Output Management Web Console: Job Manager powered by SAP NetWeaver® is a powerful web-based tracking and management solution for both administrators and end users. It provides reliable, seamless delivery of business-critical documents to multiple destinations within an enterprise, as well as extensive management and delivery features.(7)

Flexible financing options

HP Financial Services offers flexible financing, leasing and asset management services to help customers manage to the lowest cost of ownership - from planning and acquiring technology to replacing and retiring it. Additional information on HP Financial Services is available at www.hp.com/go/leasing.
Additional information on the HP products announced today is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/enterpriseleadership or join the conversation about today’s announcement by participating in the LaserJet blog at http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/laserjet/.