DIGITAL digest
HP Empowers With Print 2.0
NEW YORK—On the 52nd floor of 7 World Trade Center, more than 700 guests and 100 Hewlett-Packard employees spent two days enjoying a room with a (magnificent!) view. The event was part of HP’s rollout of the “Print 2.0: Extending the Power of Print” strategy and provided a launching pad for a new $300 million, worldwide marketing campaign—“What do you have to say?”
With New York City as a backdrop, the main attractions, however, were inside where HP staged an “Experience Center.” It resembled a Hollywood set complete with a faux bedroom, living room, home office, business office, retail store, winery and boardroom, each outfitted with real furniture and every HP product imaginable. Live presenters explained the various capabilities, usages and benefits of the individual products and integrated systems on display.
Before touring the Experience Center, guests heard a keynote speech by Vyomesh “VJ” Joshi, executive vice president, HP Imaging and Printing Group. Joshi provided details about the Print 2.0 initiative and explained that—in the same way it introduced and rode the ink-jet wave in the mid-’80s—HP will be riding the newest wave: the Web.
After the keynote speech, attendees participated in a Web Achiever panel and Q&A, which focused on the rise of the Web platform and how HP and its partners are expanding the “Power of Print” through that platform. The panel consisted of international media experts: John Battelle of Federated Media, Eric Aledort with the Walt Disney Internet Group, Wang Choo of Northstart Media (China), Katherine Borchert of WAZ Media-group (Europe) and Xeni Jardin of boingboing.net.
Once the speaker portion was finished, guests toured the Experience Center displays, which corresponded to the company’s business sectors, including consumer, small and medium businesses, original HP supplies, corporate enterprise/public, HP’s Halo collaboration studio (which featured live video conferencing between London and the event in New York) and, last but not least, graphic arts.
With the theme “From Postage Stamps to Building Wraps,” the graphic arts sector display highlighted a wide range of digital printing solutions, including two new large-format printers.
Scitex X2, which the company sees as a key transition technology in the conversion of analog production to digital in the large-format arena, combines existing HP Scitex piezoelectric technology with silicon-based MicroElectro-MechanicalSystems (MEMS) technology used in semiconductor manufacturing. Set to see its first application in the HP Scitex XL2200 industrial wide-format printer, the head is said to increase print speeds and lower printing costs.
The second new product, the Designjet T1100 MFP, is an integrated scan and copy unit designed for shops looking to produce a wide range of high-quality applications.
Also new was the HP Smart Labels and Packaging Solution, which is designed to meet emerging pharmaceutical regulatory demands such as California’s “ePedigree” serialization requirements. Slated for availability in March 2008, it includes HP Trust, Track and Trace solutions and uses the HP Indigo press ws4500.
The full HP Indigo press family took center stage, with demonstrations of emerging and fast-growth applications such as on-demand books, photo books and transpromotional material.
Transpromo printing adds data-driven, personalized marketing and promotional offers to must-read statement and billing documents. In conjunction with the New York event, HP announced its first major customer application in this market—the installation of six HP Indigo press w3250s by direct mail firm Oniya Shapira, in Asseret, Israel, for the production of 8 million monthly credit card customer statements/mailings.
Mark Hoog, author of the self-published book “Letters from Katrina,” was on hand to autograph copies. Produced by HP customer Lightning Source, the book features children’s original artwork and firsthand accounts of the 2005 hurricane.
In the photography segment, HP highlighted the new high-end photo book service introduced by Couture Book in conjunction with R and R Images, both of Phoenix. The latter installed a new HP Indigo press 5500 to produce the book blocks that are finished with hand-sewn bindings.
The Next Big Thing?
CAMBRIDGE, MA—For years, printers have been hearing from the experts about the need to diversify beyond printing. Maybe the better answer is to expand the nature of what the industry prints.
Printed Electronics USA 2007 invites attendees to “discover your future” at the conference scheduled to run from November 12-15 in San Francisco. The event covers the developments in organic and inorganic electronics, with an emphasis on routes to commercialization, and is geared to product developers, end users, researchers, scientists and venture capitalists.
According to IDTechEX, which sponsors the conference, the market for printed and potentially printed electronics will grow from $1.18 billion in 2007 to $48.2 billion in 2017. Within 10 years, 90 percent of that yearly volume should be fully or partially printed, the research firm predicts.
Some 500 delegates and 50 exhibitors are expected to participate in this fourth-annual conference. Attendees can pick from among more than 50 in-depth presentations and go on hosted visits to local companies that are pioneering this market.
For more information, visit www.idtechex.com/peUSA.
IDTechEX also publishes an informative newsletter, which recently included a short write-up on Polymertronics’ interactive ink-jet printing technology. The UK-based company reportedly is developing nanotechnology that in one application will allow organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and touch-sensitive interactive panels to be integrated into large-format digital prints. Embedded lights could be made to flash in any sequence and scrolling text displays could be printed.
The research firm says Polymertronics (www.polymertronics.com) is at the “proof of principle stage” with its process for combining small organic semiconductors with UV curing techniques to fix the electronics onto media that can include vinyl, plastics, glass and metal. The material can then be printed using flatbed or roll-to-roll printer platforms.
DICE to Roll Up DI Users
EAST HAMPTON, NY—In cooperation with Presstek, the Digital Imaging Customer Exchange (DICE) will be launching a new segment focused on printers operating direct imaging (DI) offset presses. Membership will be open to any company that has a digital offset press utilizing Presstek’s DI technology, whether branded under the Presstek name or from an OEM.
The DICE user forums will cover four vendor platforms as a result, the other three being HP Indigo, Kodak NexPress and higher-end Xerox color production devices. “We see Presstek’s digital offset technology as highly complementary to the digital printing technology employed by our current members,” explains Michael Vinocur, DICE executive director. “In fact, many of our members already have a Presstek DI running alongside their (full) digital press.”
Todd Chambers, Presstek’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, adds: “We welcome the opportunity for Presstek’s DI users to share their successes with the DICE community and believe that it will be beneficial for all digital printers to learn about the significant role a DI press can have in a digital production environment.”
As is the case with the other printing platforms supported by DICE, companies owning Presstek-enabled DI presses will be offered a free first-year membership, a $495 value. Company membership will entitle an unlimited number of employees to subscribe to DICE’s new DI e-mail forum, as well as a broader e-mail forum—called DICEMAIL—where all members can come together to discuss sales, marketing and general business issues. For more information, visit www.dicegroup.org.
Connect Meeting Stays in Vegas
FOSTER CITY, CA—What happens in Vegas shouldn’t stay in Vegas. . .when the “happening” is valuable information.
EFI announced it will hold the ninth annual Connect user conference from July 29 to August 1, 2008, at the Wynn Las Vegas casino resort. The event brings together EFI customers from around the globe to attend educational sessions, test drive the company’s latest products, discuss industry trends and network with peers.
Several changes will be incorporated into the 2008 conference, including longer classroom sessions, more time in the computer lab, training on upgrade releases and some specialty “tracks” within the conference that provide a focused day on a specific discipline within the industry.
More information is available at www.efi.com/connect08/.
digital bytes
ROCHESTER, NY—Caslon, a PODi affiliate, has added a new afternoon session to its digital printing seminar series. “Developing Successful Lead Generation Campaigns with Personalized URLs” is geared to owners, top executives, sales managers, sales reps, product managers, customer service personnel and data specialists. The original morning session—“Selling Digital Printing: Transitioning from an Order Taker to a Solution Provider”—is targeted to salespeople. Seminars are scheduled to be held November 7 in New York City and November 9 in San Francisco. The seminar series is being sponsored by HP, Adobe, Ikon, Ricoh, Mohawk Fine Paper and Pageflex, along with PRINTING IMPRESSIONS as the media sponsor. Additional information is available at www.podi.org.
MILWAUKEE—Kubin-Nicholson, a provider of large-format digital and offset printing, has acquired an EFI VUTEk QS3200 digital press and i-XL44 cutting table to produce short-run and prototype POP displays. The combination enables the company to eliminate the mounting and laminating steps by printing directly on a wide range of substrates up to 2˝ thick. The company is currently working with clients such as Kohl’s department stores and Fathead, a manufacturer of life-size, repositionable (low tack adhesive) posters of pro athletes.
TULSA, OK—Looking to expand its printing capabilities, meet tight turnaround times and improve printing quality, Odyssey Digital Printing has installed a Presstek 52DI digital offset press. The 55-employee shop is using the press to print promotional materials for Wal-Mart six-up on a sheet, as opposed to four-up, improving throughput and productivity.
PHOENIX—R and R Images, a marketing services provider that also specializes in digital printing, has installed an HP Indigo press 5500 to produce high-end photo books that are finished using hand-sewn binding techniques. Its client, Couture Book, is debuting a new line of upscale consumer photo books, which were promoted at HP’s Print 2.0 event in New York in August and at Graph Expo 2007 last month.
SEWICKLEY, PA—PIA/GATF has published the “Web-to-Print Primer” for printers, print buyers and marketing professionals. Topics addressed include the pros and cons of building a custom solution versus licensing one from a vendor, and a comparison of the many Web solutions currently available. The primer also contains case study profiles of printers that have built successful Web-to-print solutions. One of the highlights of the book is its buyer’s guide section, covering more than 50 products in the Web-to-print marketplace. The primer, which costs $20 for PIA/GATF members ($30 for non-members), is available at www.gain.net.
