There have been several new imaging and printing announcements today including new products. Visit the press-release home-page for more information. Be sure to visit the press kit as well for more key features on the products announced.

New Products:

There are new Monochrome LaserJets reaching speeds of 62ppm with new options including multi-bin mailboxes and numeric keypads for releasing private print jobs plus a greater input capacity. An important note for customers interested in protecting the environment: we’ve introduced low-melt toner which decreases the amount of heat (and by extension power) required in the fusing process. This in tandem with instant-on fusers which HP pioneered years ago, makes this the right choice for those sensitive to environmental concerns around power consumption and carbon footprints.

The 9040mfp and 9050mfp devices have been refreshed (now M9040mfp and M9050mfp) to introduce the new Easy Select Control Panel we have on the other M and CM series products.

The Color LaserJet CM6030mfp (30ppm) and CM6040mfp (40ppm) have been introduced with the same control panel now offered on our other touch screen models, excellent performance and some new features. I’ve been looking forward to this product. It has many of the same features our current MFP’s do plus some more I’ll let people discover without me spoiling the surprises. The basic models fit nicely into tight spaces. For those wishing to have more finishing capacity and options, an easy-to-attach stapler/stacker or multifunction finisher is available which makes booklets.

HP has also introduced the Color LaserJet CP6015 single-function. This product is amazing. It supports printing on HP banner media - something many schools will love and large companies can use for printing project schedules and workflow diagrams. It also has support for 3^rd party software RIPs for those wishing to use this in a MARCOM groups.

We also introduced a VERY important offering for areas that do high volume scanning and need speed, speed and more speed (did I say speed?). The ScanJet N9120 scans at 100 images per minute (50 sheets per minute), has imprinting capabilities and comes with SDSS software (like our other commercial ScanJets) and Kofax VRS Pro. I could go on-and-on (the feature set is impressive). Did I mention it supports scanning anything from checks to tabloid media? This product (along with the others discussed earlier) exemplifies just how seriously HP takes scanning with its commercial and public sector customers. If you have a service delivery, mailroom, etc. where centralized scanning is required, this might be the right solution for you.

And, last but not least, we introduced a replacement to the JetDirect wireless option for commercial customers. It’s called the JetDirect 690n which supports 802.11B and G networks including IPv4 and IPv6. IPSec was added for Layer-3 encryption (much like our JetDirect 635n has for wired gigabit networks). It has an EIO interface and will work with just about any EIO capable commercial LaserJet or Color LaserJet device. But if you remember anything from this, take note of this. There’s an Ethernet connector on this card for really-easy configuration. This is important for administrators who just don’t have a lot of time to play with wireless settings.

New Developer Program:

There is also a very interesting section around our solution developer program with formalized accreditation and certification processes for partners. This cannot be under-estimated. Normally customers expect a high degree of quality and support from products and technology that HP invents or acquires. However, we also work with (and recommend, sell and support) a number of 3^rd party solution partners as well.

Based on my experience with other customers, I think it’s fair to say that many have concerns around a manufacturer recommending product that is not theirs. Common questions include: “Who will support me if something breaks” and “will it really work reliably”. This revised partner program (which began membership last year) offers new software development kits to participating partners and includes accreditation and certification components from HP. There is often co-development as well. This means customers can have a much more reliable experience with 3^rd party solutions than any other manufacturer would be able to claim and more choices to pick from.

Ten partners, including Assentis, Capella Technologies, Captaris, Equitrac, Jetmobile, Kofax, MPI, Omtool, Pharos Systems and ReadSoft, are now accredited and have specific solutions in the certification process.

New Assets:

It’s here. Exstream Software is now part of the HP family. I recently had an opportunity to consult with one of their senior management and sufficed to say, some exciting new possibilities in the way customers interact with information, documents and paper come to mind. I’d really encourage customers to take a look at the Dialog Live multimedia presentation if you are at all interested in topics like document automation and variable data printing.

HP and Tower Software also recently announced that they have signed a pre-bid agreement for HP to acquire Tower, a document and records management software company. The deal will enable HP to expand its offerings in the fast-growing electronic discovery and compliance software market.