New printing tech to cut costs

Gartner analysts discussed printing and imaging technology trends and how customers should prepare for the annual Print & Imaging Summit, reports Channel Web.

Frederico de Silva Leon, a principal analyst at Gartner, says concerns about the cost of hardware, paper, and consumables, as well as the move to adopt environmentally-friendly technologies, is combining with falling print volumes to drive customers to adopt new printing technologies.

"Companies are saying that managing print is one of the most effective ways to manage costs," de Silva Leon says. Printing hardware costs are rapidly declining, especially with colour printing, where the average sales price of a printer is predicted to fall at a cumulative annual rate of 15.8% from 2001 to 2011.

Intermec Technologies has released enhanced versions of seven of its industrial printers, according to FEN.

The print company says the industrial printers have been enhanced with an all-in-one printer programming language, increased memory and stronger network security and flexibility. The printers are targeting warehouse, transportation and logistics and manufacturing for printing labels and barcodes.

Intermec says the printers feature its smart printing technology, which allows companies to deploy the units as standalone smart clients running custom applications to reduce errors and improve process efficiencies.

Pandigital and Zink have collaborated to release the Portable Photo Printer, which is said to be the first-ever 4- x 6-inch Zero Ink printer, says Engadget.

As with other Zink gear, this one also requires no ink cartridges or ribbons, and no PC is needed in order to load and print shots. Detailed specifications are still missing, but a preview LCD, memory card slot, USB port and a touch-based UI for printing are included.

The MSRP for the printer is pegged at $149.99 (with paper at $39.99), and it should start leaking out to limited markets this week.