Print.IT Reseller
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32
wide format
Twenty-three years after developing
a pagewide inkjet printhead in its
R&D labs, HP has announced its first
large format printer to feature the
technology.
HP believes that when it is introduced
in October 2015, HP Large Format Page
Wide Array Technology will transform large
format printing for print service providers,
copy shops and CRD departments. It
is announcing it now so that potential
customers are aware of what’s in the
pipeline when making investment decisions
they will be stuck with for the next
3-5 years.
HP says its new technology has the
potential to disrupt today’s LED-dominated
market by combining the advantages of
DesignJet colour inkjets and mono LED
toner printers in one multi-purpose inkjet
device that delivers both colour and mono
output significantly faster than alternatives,
including Memjet devices, and more
cheaply than LED mono devices.
The combination will help make large
format colour printing mainstream and
remove the need to have separate LED and
inkjet devices for mono and colour output.
Essentially, the new technology offers
the same value proposition as pagewide
inkjet printheads in office devices, i.e.
colour at twice the speed of toner and
significantly lower running costs. HP
expects it to have just as much of an
impact in large format printing as the
Officejet Pro X is having in office printing
(see page 27).
The pre-production model
seen by
PrintIT Reseller
is
certainly impressive. Equipped
with a 40-inch pagewide
array made up of eight 5-inch
modules with more than
200,000 nozzles, it prints entire
A0 prints in a single pass in the
time it takes existing Designjet
printheads to go across the page
The next revolution
HP previews single pass large format inkjet
technology and announces new tools that
enable the channel to offer pay-per-use
contracts for large format printing
transactional sales to contractual sales
with full service contracts and pay-per-use
options.
Targeted at print service providers,
copy shops and reprographics companies
that make a living from printing, as well
as traditional Designjet customers in the
AEC community, the new developments
maintain HP inkjet’s Moore’ s Law-like
trajectory of a doubling of performance
every 18 months. They include the:
HP Designjet T3500 Production
eMultifunction Printer:
a productive
36-inch colour MFP for small repro
houses and enterprises, this will allow
customers to consolidate their workflow
on one device with the same mono page
costs as a low volume mono LED device
and fast throughput of 21 seconds per
colour or mono print. Two rolls, an output
stacker and large ink consumables enable
unattended operation.
T7200 Production Printer:
to be
launched in November, this 42-inch printer
builds on the success of the 7100, with
extra memory, faster processing speeds
and more accessories and workflow
solutions. Three rolls and large capacity ink
supplies provide 600 metre unattended
operation.
HP Designjet SmartStream:
This
workflow and PDF management solution
can cut multi-page processing times by
50%, with the ability to prepare and send
jobs to multiple HP Designjet printers.
An embedded Adobe PDF print engine
provides the fastest Adobe PDF rendering
engine today. A Crystal Preview function
gives an accurate view of document
colours and lay-outs.
HP is also launching a new universal
print driver for all HP Designjets and a 42in
scanner with scan to email and multi-page
PDF generation.
...HP believes
technical
innovations
are only
successful
and long-
lasting if
they can be
scaled up or
down...
HP says its new technology
has the potential to disrupt
today’s LED-dominated
market...
and back just once i.e. about two seconds.
Output emerges dry and ready to use.
The new devices are especially
productive when producing jobs with a
mix of colour and mono pages that today
would be produced on different devices
and then collated.
It has taken HP engineers 10 years
to develop HP Large Format Page Wide
Array Technology and overcome the
technical challenges involved in creating
an economical, productive, versatile
and reliable technology for high volume
printing in CRDs and PSPs.
As important as the new printhead is
HP's new generation of durable, waterfast,
highlighter- and smudge-resistant inks,
which are suitable for a wide variety of
substrates and capable of producing strong
blacks and vivid colour output on uncoated
bond.
Another requirement for the new
technology was that it should be fully
scalable, as HP believes technical
innovations are only successful and long-
lasting if they can be scaled up or down
to meet a variety of needs. HP says that its
roadmap for this technology includes lower
volume solutions for enterprises.
Faster and more productive
As well as whetting the market’s appetite
for HP Large Format Page Wide Array
Technology, HP has launched a number of
new wide format products and services,
including HP PartnerLink, a set of tools
that will enable partners to move from
