News

IBM has entered the colour arena for the first time with the launch of the Infoprint 5000 just two weeks after it agreed to sell its printing operation to Ricoh.

The four-colour digital press is targeted at the transactional and direct mail markets as well as the book sector. The Infoprint 5000 was unveiled officially at last week's Hunkeler Innovation Days in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The continuous form digital press runs at 64m per minute and uses piezo-electric on-demand inkjet technology.

Clive Stringer, sales manager for IBM's printing systems division said: "We think that this product hits the sweet spot on cost. We have made enhancements in quality and the machine is more robust. You also don't have to find millions of pages to drive it."

Stringer added that IBM had its eye firmly on the colour transactional market with increasing numbers of financial institutions exploring the possibilities of incorporating marketing messages on customer statements.

IBM's announcement follows the news earlier this month that it had linked up with Ricoh to form Infoprint Solutions. The venture will be 51% owned by Ricoh with IBM holding the remaining 49%.

Phil Self, IBM business unit executive for the printing systems division said: "It [the joint venture] has come along at a great time. We now have new products coming out and it is a very rosy picture. It means we have ongoing development in all areas."

Also shown at the Hunkeler event was mono digital press, the Infoprint 4100.

IBM Infoprint 5000
- First venture into the commercial colour market
- Targets transactional mail, book and direct mail sectors
- Prints at 64m per minute 360x720dpi resolution

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