The largest industry show in 2001, PRINT, held every four years, opened in Chicago on Thursday, 6 September. There are about 1 000 exhibitors occupying over 350 000 square meters of space, and 100 000 visitors are expected.
There is at long last an acknowledgement that companies that provide printers and printing solutions are in reality now in the communications business.
Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners
Everyone at the event is talking about the HP/Compaq deal announcement that was made earlier last week.
Although there has already been much said in the media on this topic, the view being expressed by the many I come into contact with at the show is that HP`s acquisition of Compaq is by no means a forgone conclusion.
There are still many obstacles facing the two organisations, including both the US and European "anti-trust/competition" authorities, with the latter the more significant hurdle. As the saga unfolds, more questions are raised than are answered.
As for the show, the theme is strongly focused on "the new business of printing" - the migration to digital technology, coupled with a complete change in attitude and the way solutions have been orchestrated previously.
For instance, there is at long last an acknowledgement that companies that provide printers and printing solutions are in reality now in the communications business and need to radically change their approach to that which they provide.
As is normal for this kind of event, there are numerous product announcements, but to me the most significant has been by Netherlands-based Indigo NV, a provider of digital colour printing systems.
The company took the opportunity to showcase its latest product, Platinum, a new offset colour press, which is achieving high image quality as a result of new laser-writing head development called Image Tracking Technology. The quality obtained is far superior to any other digital solution in its class.
Even more exciting is that it can personalise jobs of any size, particularly short runs, and that there is an example of this product already in SA.
With the key message being the move to "distribute and print", rather than "print and distribute"; and the heavy move to embracing colour in everything that is output, there is an enormous opportunity for this industry and many of the participants are investing heavily to obtain a significant share.
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