Digi Print in the News
Big Moves by Makers of Digital Printers.
By Lisa Cross -- graphic arts online, 3/1/2007
Major moves are afoot in the digital print market. Agfa, IBM, Kodak, Xeikon, Xerox and Ricoh all made big announcements last month. Agfa launched the :Dotrix TransColor (shown), a 500-ppm, 900-dpi high-speed digital web-fed inkjet press.
IBM announced it would spin off of its printing systems division with Ricoh to form InfoPrint Solutions Co. It also unveiled the InfoPrint 5000, a high-speed digital inkjet color press that can print at speeds up to 209.9 fpm or 916 full-color, two-up tandem duplex letter-size impressions/minute. Separately, Ricoh launched an EFI-enabled multifunction printer with up to 25, 30, 35 or 40 ppm for color output and 25, 30, 35 or 45 ppm for black-and-white.
Xeikon launched two new digital color web-fed printing presses, the 4000 and 5000plus. The model 4000 handles paper widths of 20´´, incorporates one-pass-duplex technology and produces 130 ppm. The 5000plus adds features to the existing 5000 model and can be upgraded in the field to the 6000.
Xerox released the entry-level 495, a continuous-feed black-and-white digital printer with a small-footprint design and new fusing technology for better image quality and productivity. For $425,000 it offers 250 ipm in simplex mode, 500 in duplex.
In a move some experts predict could upset the economics of consumer desktop color, Kodak announced a major initiative with low-priced inkjet cartridge refills. Kodak's replacement cartridges list for $9.99 for black ink and $14.99 for five-color ink—about half what competing brands charge.
www.agfa.com, www.printers.ibm.com, www.xeikon.com, www.ricoh.com, www.graphics.kodak.com, www.xerox.com
