HP unveils eight Print 2.0 systems

HP has introduced eight imaging and printing systems for enterprise customers which tap into specific needs in the higher education, public sector, retail and financial services industries.

These include a card security system for printers in the US Department of Defense that meets Presidential Directive 13 from Homeland Security, and a tracking system for financial firms that complies with Securities and Exchange Commission rule 17a.

John Tomesco, vice president of global enterprise market development at HP, said that the Department of Defense uses the access card system for staff entering the building.

"This is linked to a certificate, so you can swipe or enter your card into a multi-function printer, enter a Pin for the public key infrastructure that will validate you as a user and also validate the applications you can have access to," he said.

"Basically it is a very sophisticated level of authentication that was required in the public sector around Presidential Directive 12."

Tomeso explained that the document capture system was designed for brokerage or capital markets that needed to be compliant with Securities and Exchange Commission rule 17a.

"Any communication that takes place between the broker and a customer needs to have the ability to be tracked and traced, whether it is a fax, email or actual document," he said. "There has to be an audit trail so we developed a system for that."

Other products include four systems designed for education campuses, adding mobile printing, document capture, controlled cost printing and controlled access points.

HP has also developed a print system for retail outlets based on their marketing needs.

"Our retail marketing automation application was developed specifically for the output in a retail environment, whether it be shelf labels, in-store flyers that go out to the customer or any kind of promotional material," Tomesco said.

The device allows retailers to decide whether they need to print marketing documents centrally and distribute them to their stores or actually print it in the stores themselves.

"When you consider that some of the retailers may have 1,000 stores with different price zones and different ethnic backgrounds it becomes an issue," said Tomesco.

"If you want to turn over promotion cycles very quickly this becomes a tool that helps reduce waste, reduce cost, increase the effectiveness of your promotions and increase revenue."

HP has also developed the SP400 handheld scanner and printer that can print directly onto packaging.

The device has wireless capabilities to send scanned information back to a computer or upload new information to be printed on packaging.

However, Tomesco said that the new systems are only a small part of what is currently being developed by HP.

"Besides the eight we have announced today there are probably another 20 in the pipeline at various stages of development," he said.