*NEWS*HP's NEW LATEX INK

[Anonymous]

HP’s New Latex Ink
Hewlett-Packard
has been talking about developing new technologies lately, but the tech
goliath hasn’t forgotten its most dependable source of cash: ink, and
gallons of it.vj joshiSo this week–as part of the company’s initiative
to make up for declining consumer and small-business printing by
focusing on industrial printers–H-P announced a bunch of new print
products. To this blog, the one that seems most different from past
offerings is a latex ink developed for outdoor signs. Strangely, no one
is saying right now what kind of machine will use it.At first glance,
the ink appears to meet two of H-P’s most important criteria: it will
likely be expensive (a H-P spokeswoman says no one else makes a
comparable ink). And since it’s designed for large outdoor signs,
businesses such as commercial printers and advertising signage
companies should use plenty of it.The water-based latex ink is geared
for use in large-format, waterproof outdoor signs. That’s one of
several commercial-printing areas that H-P is moving into in an attempt
to displace traditional analog technologies–like offset printing, which
uses metal photographic plates and rubber rollers–with digital printers
similar to large versions of home inkjet printers.H-P print chief
Vyomesh Joshi tells the Business Technology Blog that a key marketing
point for the water-based latex ink is that it doesn’t present the
environmental problems–such as noxious smells and toxic fumes–which
solvent-based outdoor inks are known for producing during both the
production process and once the sign is completed.H-P won’t unveil the
mystery machines that will use the new ink until May at the Drupa print
exhibition, a giant printing show in Dusseldorf. Joshi said he’s
confident that the new ink and the rest of H-P’s print initiative will
quickly catch on with business customers. “This is a big deal,” he says.

[Author]

March 12, 2008 at 1:32 PM