HP has set itself a bold goal of “reinventing print production” with PrintOS, a new cloud-based production environment that will be part of its Drupa showcase.
Simon Lewis, business director HP’s graphics solutions business, described PrintOS as “a print production operating system for print service providers” (PSPs) involving a suite of tools and a set of apps.
It runs apps developed by HP and by third parties, and can also run applications developed by customers. Lewis said that in mixed production environments it would also deliver jobs to non-HP digital devices and to analogue devices.
“We have invested immense thought, planning and architectural expertise over three years to build PrintOS and do it right from the ground up,” he said.
“HP PrintOS is going to reinvent print production and the way PSPs run their businesses and generate growth.” PrintOS will be available for Indigo and PageWide customers initially, with Latex and Scitex to follow. “Each business is rolling it out at its own pace,” Lewis said.
Users with a valid service contract can set up a PrintOS account for free, then after a three-month trial period “modest” monthly fees will apply.
“PrintOS Box is something that will be worth hundreds of thousands of euros per month for customers, and it’s available free of charge,” Lewis stated.
PrintOS runs on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. Lewis said HP was studying the new ‘EU-US Privacy Shield’ data protection directive that has just been announced between the EU and the US to ensure PrintOS complied with it.
HP has overtaken Heidelberg as Drupa’s largest-single exhibitor, and is taking the entire 6,200sqm of hall 17 at the upcoming show, where it will run more than 40 different printing systems.