New Web-Based Printing Services, Tools, Enterprise Applications and Technologies Exemplify Company’s Strategy
HP (NYSE:HPQ) today unveiled “Print 2.0,” the company’s strategy for making printing relevant and empowering as both personal and professional content increasingly moves from the desktop to the web.
At HP’s annual Imaging and Printing Conference this morning, Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of the company’s Imaging and Printing Group, described how HP will seek to capture a significant share of the 53 trillion digital pages estimated to be printed in 2010 alone — an opportunity valued at more than $296 billion.
Joshi identified three key areas of focus of the Print 2.0 strategy:
- Make it easier to print from websites, such as blogs and travel sites, and bring new printing capabilities to online properties;
- Extend the company’s digital content creation and publishing platforms — for example, Snapfish and Logoworks — across customer segments spanning from consumers to enterprises; and
- Deliver a digital printing platform that increases print speeds and lowers the cost of printing for high-volume commercial markets.
In its enterprise imaging and printing portfolio, HP also announced new applications, services and an enhanced solution partner program to help businesses improve their imaging and printing workflow, management and infrastructure.
“Today, we’re introducing a new era in printing. We’re redefining what it means to print and further accelerating the transformation from analog to digital printed pages,” said Joshi. “In today’s world of ‘mashed media’ — words, pictures, video, songs — the question becomes: ‘How will people publish this content?’ Print 2.0 is the answer. This vision centers on empowering our customers to create and consume their content, their way.”
Making the web more print-friendly
Content from the Internet accounts for nearly half (48 percent) of all printing done at home. Yet, many of the most popular destinations on the web — such as blogs and travel sites — have limited or non-existent printing capabilities. In an effort to broaden and improve the web-printing experience, HP is creating technologies to make it easy to print content from the Internet in a useful format.
The company is working with a number of leading Internet destinations and hosting companies to either improve their digital printing capabilities or introduce new ones. For example, HP has collaborated with ViaMichelin, a leading map provider in Europe with more than 28 million monthly visits to its online mapping service. ViaMichelin’s website now offers customers improved map-printing by better aligning what is seen on-screen with what is printed on the page, as well as with how maps are used once people are on the road.
HP also has teamed with leading weblog software and services company SixApart, Ltd., creators of Movable Type, the world’s most advanced blogging platform, to enable bloggers to add a “print” button on their blogs. Movable Type powers many of the world’s most popular blogs, including BoingBoing.net and Dooce.com, which will feature printing functionality. The new blog-printing “widget” on these sites will allow readers to pick and choose the posts they want to print, and skip those they don’t. The blog printing plug-in for Movable Type is currently in beta release and is expected to become widely available to users by June 29 at http://www.sixapart.com/pronet/plugins.
HP also plans to introduce the Tabblo Print Toolkit, an embeddable website widget and corresponding web service that enables web designers to incorporate print functionality into new and existing websites. The toolkit is based on custom template technology developed by Tabblo, a company HP acquired in March, that allows users to simply and efficiently arrange content for printing. The Tabblo Print Toolkit is expected to become available by June 29 at developer.tabblo.com.
Improving enterprise time to business
HP has added eight imaging and printing solutions to its enterprise portfolio targeted to customers in the higher education, public sector, retail, transportation/logistics and financial services industries. Designed to streamline information workflows and reduce costs, these applications offer customers industry-specific expertise and a single point of contact for a simplified sales process, service and support. These include:
- Four HP Campus Advantage Solutions targeted to institutions of higher learning. The solutions deliver powerful capabilities ranging from mobile printing and user-based, per-page accounting, to the consolidation of copying, scanning, imaging and printing devices in a secure networked environment.
- For government and public sector customers, the HP Common Access Card enables secure imaging and printing network authentication.
- The HP Retail Marketing Automation application transforms the manual, labor-intensive in-store promotion and communication process into an industrial, automated one, allowing for quicker time to market.
- For financial services customers, HP Compliant Document Capture for SEC17a meets the needs of capturing regulated fax, email, scan and couriered mail documentation quickly and easily at the point of creation.
- A first of its kind, the new HP Handheld sp400 All-in-One (AiO), which is aimed at industries such as transportation/logistics, manufacturing and retail, simplifies workflow and operations with a portable, easy-to-use, high-performance printing solution that applies an image directly to packaging or other surface, eliminating the cost and time needed for labeling operations.
HP also introduced four HP Managed Print Services that enable enterprise customers to optimize and manage their enterprise imaging and printing environments for improved business results. The new services include the HP Print Center Transformation Service, HP Integrated Print Management Service, HP Onsite Document Consultant Service and HP Universal Print Driver Consulting Service.
Additionally, the company is now providing enterprise customers with unprecedented access to the latest HP and partner technology via the HP Solutions Business Partner Program. Under the program’s new Platinum, Gold and Silver tiers, HP partners will benefit in reaching a broader market while HP provides a single point of contact for products, support and services for enterprise customers.
Helping small businesses improve marketing effectiveness and productivity
Building on the success of the HP Color Printing Center (http://www.hp.com/go/color), HP has expanded its in-house marketing tools and resources for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) with HP In-House Marketing Resource Center software.
This free tool provides users with convenient desktop access to all of HP’s in-house marketing resources and new specialized tools for greater cost savings, flexibility and control, such as:
- HP Print Cost Estimator: This tool quickly highlights the cost advantages of printing specific jobs in-house versus outsourcing and is available on networked HP Color LaserJet printers.
- HP Print View Software: This software enables customers to dynamically view the actual output of marketing documents before they hit “print.”
The new HP Color LaserJet CP3505 will be the first printer to ship with these marketing software tools and resources. The printer is designed to boost productivity and deliver bold, brilliant color materials at speeds of up to 22 pages per minute in best print quality default mode. The HP Color LaserJet CP3505 will be available worldwide June 1 with estimated U.S. street prices ranging from $699 to $1,449.(1)
Back by a network of experienced graphic designers, HP’s Logoworks is now offering Office Depot’s “Design, Print & Ship Depot” customers custom logo packages, business cards, professional letterhead and website design services. Customers can choose from a number of graphic design solutions all aimed at helping their businesses succeed. The service is currently available in Office Depot’s more than 1,000 stores nationwide and online at http://www.officedepot.com.
Faster decision making with HP Halo
The Halo Video Exchange Network that makes the HP Halo Collaboration Studio’s telepresence possible now circumnavigates the globe. The dedicated fiber optic network was created by HP in partnership with many of the world’s leading telecommunications providers, including Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). In April, VSNL and HP signed an agreement that connected the network from India to Europe via the Middle East.
The extension of the network further improves Halo users’ perception of no delay and gives added business continuity protection to customers by enabling automatic re-routing of Halo connections during earthquakes or other disasters that can disrupt all forms of network traffic.
More information
Further details on today’s announcements and video of Joshi’s presentation on the future of digital printing and imaging in the Web 2.0 era are available in an online press kit at http://www.hp.com/go/2007ipgconference.
About HP
HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers — from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $97.1 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2007. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.
(1) Estimated U.S. street prices. Actual prices may vary.
