HP Indigo Unveils Digital Front-End Tools

HP has announced new digital front-end solutions for its Indigo ws4000, ws4050, and ws4500 presses. Developed in conjunction with EskoArtwork, these new solutions are focused on label and packaging production.

'With an estimated 30 to 40% annual growth, digital printing is the fastest growing market segment within package printing,' says Cartsen Knudsen, EskoArtwork CEO. Plus, HP reports that label and packaging production are two of the fastest-growing segments in digital printing.

The four new digital front-end (DFE) solutions include:

* HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Server: Powered by EskoArtwork, the DFE establishes PDF 1.6 workflows, eliminates time needed to prep files for the RIP, enables on-screen soft proofing and ICC color management, and offers Pantone-certified conversion tables for 4-, 6-, and 7-color printing.

* HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Color Kit: A high-end color management solution to allow users to quickly match Pantone colors, flexography, offset, and other print outputs. Incorporating EskoArtworks Kaleidoscope software, it allows spectral profiling of special colors and stores them in a database.

* HP Indigo Labels and Packaging VDP Tools: A set of Adobe Illustrator plug-ins for variable-data, barcode, and step-and-repeat work.

* HP Indigo Labels and Packaging Connectivity Modules: This driver enables the server to connect to up to four presses in a non-concurrent print mode.

These new solutions replace prior on-board DFE and EskoArtworks solutions for HP Indigo printers.

HEWLETT-PACKARD
www.hp.com