The Hindu Business Line : H-P expands portfolio for small, medium biz

Many firsts at Shanghai: P4515 (left), a monochrome printer with a capacity to print 62 pages per minute; CP1215 (top-right), a single-function colour laser printer; and CM1312 (bottom-right) a multi-function printer with a LED-based scanner, were the eye-catchers among the new printers launched. –

Ravikanth Nandula

Recently in Shanghai, April 20 Hewlett Packard’s Image & Printing Group (IPG) has added teeth to its Print 2.0 strategy, formulated by the company a few months ago, with the roll-out of 25 printing products and solutions, the company’s largest single offering to date.

Comprising printers, software and Web-based resources, this slew of offerings is aimed at small and medium businesses (SMBs) and home offices (SOHOs).

“These products will enable our SMB customers to have a level playing field against larger-sized competitors by improving their marketing effectiveness, increase productivity and reduce costs involved in their printing needs”, Mr Herbert Koeck, H-P Vice-President (Commercial Printing), Asia-Pacific, said at the launch event titled “Business Go Print 2.0”, organised by the company for media persons from Asia-Pacific and Japan.

While the number and range of printers unveiled by the company - 17 in all, covering both laser and inkjet technologies and catering to single function, multi function and all-in-one needs - was in itself eye-catching, there were a couple of other noteworthy first-time offerings from the company.

First-time offerings

The company has decided to offer Colorsphere, the company’s patented ‘chemically grown’ toner technology that was hitherto found only in H-P’s higher-end printers, across all their colour laser printers including the entry-level ones. For an SMB customer, this provides access to professional quality prints at a much lower cost.

In another beginning, HP came out with its first LED-based scanner, moving away from the traditional halogen bulb. LED (Light emitting diodes) technology uses much less power and are ever-ready for use, eliminating the waiting time that the halogen bulb-based scanners need. The company has incorporated these scanners in their new multi-function range of printers.

Speaking about the fleet of printers, Mr Christopher Morgan, Senior Vice-President, Imaging and Printing Group, Asia-Pacific & Japan said, “The needs of SMBs are various and vary from one case to another. Now we can say that we have a printer on offer for any SMB’s needs and expectations.”

New resources

The company has also come out with a few new software tools and online resources to help SMBs conceptualise, design and print their own marketing material, eliminating the need for a professinal service provider.

These tools and templates ship with all the printers and can also be downloaded from the company’s website for free.

Among the eye-catchers at the event were the entry-level colour laser printer CP 1215 which, while offering Colorsphere technology and inline single-pass printing, can also print in black at the same cost-per-page as a monochrome printer; a multi-function printer CM 1312 which boasts of instant-on scanning and printing; a single-function monochrome ‘workhorse’ printer P4515 which claims to have broken the one-second-per-page barrier at a printing capacity of 62 pages per minute and the H-P in-house Marketing Starter Kit.

The imaging tools and templates contained in the Kit work harmoniously with a word-processor and are easy to use even for a layman.

All the printers are expected to roll out in a phased manner by June 1.