HP, Landscape Group partner

HP and software house The Landscape Group have joined forces to create a new print-on-demand service for schools, in a move that could decrease the amount of educational work outsourced to commercial printers, reports Print Week.

The new service, EduPrint, will allow schools, colleges and study centres to take many printing jobs in-house, and also give students the opportunity to develop creative and business skills.

It combines the latest HP Z series printers from the manufacturer`s large-format Designjet range with an automated software template, developed by The Landscape Group that enables personalisation of content.

In a deal worth US$117 million, HP is buying NUR Macroprinters, an Israel-based maker of wide-format digital inkjet printers widely used by the commercial graphics industry, says E-Commerce Times.

The deal will enlarge HP`s footprint in the world of graphic arts by allowing it to offer more mid-range platforms and technologies based on ultraviolet-curable inkjets, HP said.

The wide-format inkjet production printers and inks that NUR develops, manufactures, markets and services are used by companies worldwide to "produce a vast and innovative range of out-of-home advertising materials". These include point-of-purchase displays, billboards, banners, building wraps and vehicle graphics, said the company.

Brother Gulf, a player in the development and manufacturing of printing, communication and digital imaging products for homes, SOHOs and enterprises, has achieved a 19% increase in its revenue, states Al-Bawaba.

This is the highest growth rate in the regional printer, copier and multifunction products (MFP) market in the first half of 2007.

Findings compiled and published by IDC indicate that Brother`s share in the EMEA printer, copier and MFP market has increased significantly, which the company attributes to the growing importance of MFPs and its move towards achieving a long-term goal of 100% growth in three years.