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HP intros 25 printing solutions at one go

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

SHANGHAI, CHINA: In its largest ever commercial product launch in the printing and imaging business division, HP has rolled out 25 new printing solutions, including 10 printers, at a media briefing event in Shanghai.

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The products are aimed at the SMB business segment, a vertical that is being focused strongly by vendors in the Asia Pacific region.

The additions include new color printers and multifunction devices, which the company claimed, is optimized for producing professional-quality marketing materials, business collaterals and everyday documents, quickly and affordably, in house.

"Today's launch builds upon our Print 2.0 strategy, which will allow our SMB customers to print when and how they want - in house, at retail or through a print service provider," said Herbert Koeck, vice president - Commercial Printing, Imaging and Printing Group, HP, Asia Pacific.

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One of the introductions is the Color Laserjet CP1215 printer series, which at $249 is HP's lowest priced desktop color laser printer till date.

HP also introduced a new system rebrand for its ink-based Officejet line-up with printers and cartridges to offer low-cost per page business printing.

It also announced new online tools and solutions like Easy Printer Care software 2.5i which helps SMB customers who do not have a dedicated IT support team, to set-up, maintain and view the status of up to 15 printers on a network.

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The Jetdirect 690n wireless network printing server was also rolled out to offer upcoming enterprise customers to share several printers to be shared on a single network using an 802.11g wireless connection.

The company is keen to dissociate the printer as a standalone device used merely for printing in the SMB segment. Instead it is positioning these machines as a complete suite of solution, which includes hardware, supplies and services, which the vendor is valuing at $103 billion globally by 2010.

The company is also betting its money on the in-house marketing opportunity, especially for the SMB, which it is estimating will be around $40 billion by 2010.

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To ensure that it has the highest recall in the SMB business segment, the company will invest $300 million into a global marketing campaign which will target SMB and large customers.

It has also enhanced its Office Printing Channel Program and Solutions Business Partner Program with an accreditation, certification and test program for its 64,000 worldwide channel network.

"We have quadrupled the total contract value of HP Managed Print Services, bolstered our Print 2.0 strategy with the recent acquisition of Exstream Software and expanded our focus on imaging and printing solutions that help customers optimize their infrastructure, manage their enterprise and improve workflows," said Cruce Dahlgren, senior VP, Global Enterprise Business, Imaging and Printing Group, HP.

Worldwide HP's IPG business in 2007 grew to $28.5 million in revenue terms, which was a six per cent growth y-o-y.

Globally, it shipped one million Laserjet devices in 2008 while its Indian single function market grew from 3 lakh units in 2005 to over 6 lakh units last fiscal.

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