Foto Knjiga

HP Indigo investment enables company to penetrate photo market BOEBLINGEN, 22 February 2008 - HP today announced that Foto Šimonka has installed Slovenia’s first HP Indigo press 5000 to produce high-quality photo-specialty items. DigiFot, a subsidiary of print service provider Foto Šimonka, was established in 2000 to provide an online photo service for customers in Slovenia and Hungary. Until the installation of its new five-colour HP Indigo press 5000, the company was using traditional methods to develop photographs. However, when asssesing the photo printing industry executives at the company realised that the future of online photo printing lay in digital production. The company now uses its new press to create a range of web-to-print collateral including photobooks, photographs, calendars, greetings cards, T-shirts, teddy bears, cushions, jigsaw puzzles and mugs for its customers. “Our customers create their photo products using an online user-friendly photo software program,” said Miha Milic, sales manager, DigiFot. “The order is processed and printed on our HP Indigo press 5000 and a few days later the customer receives their photobook bound and printed according to their specifications.” The DigiFot online photo service is rapidly expanding and three weeks after launching the online service, the new software had been used to download 2,500 images to its photo library and had recieved orders for more than 300 photo products. The HP Indigo press 5000 has the ability to print at speeds of up to 4,000 four-colour A4 images per hour ensuring that Foto Šimonka can fulfil this high demand. The HP Indigo press 5000 is ideal for the production of photo-specialty items. The press uses HP’s liquid ink technology to form much sharper images than xerographic dry toners - they are even superior to offset lithographic dots at equivalent resolutions. The sharpness is particularly noticeable at the edges of halftone dots and fine type characters, due in part to the small size of the ink particles, but also to the way these particles are transformed when they are on the press. “Photo-specialty products are becoming an increasingly important part of our business and so it was important that we have a press that is able to produce genuine photo quality,” said Milic. “Thanks to the quality of HP ElectroInk and the HP Indigo press 5000 our photo service products will be of the highest photographic quality in the digital printing market.” About HP HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2008.

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