HP’s Hiflex Buy: More Than Meets the Eye

On December 6, HP announced its acquisition of Aachen, Germany-based Hiflex Software, a provider of print Management Information System (MIS) and Web-to-print software. Unlike EFI, which scooped up German MIS provider Alphagraph on exactly the same day for the purpose of expanding its customer base and sales capabilities internationally, HP’s prime motivation was to acquire technology to power its enterprise cloud-based printing initiatives.

Since the printing industry is in decline and printed pages are under pressure from electronic communications, growth in digital page volume for digital print manufacturers needs to come either from offset migration or by switching over pages produced on competing devices. For HP, developing cloud-based technology that capitalizes on its IT strength with the intent to capture enterprise print directly is a practical (albeit risky) strategy to route more volume to its Indigo customers. Read more »

Printing to My Home Printer Anywhere, Anytime

Whenever I receive an e-mail on my iPhone that needs to be printed I mark it as unread and hope I remember to look at my e-mail that night on my computer. I occasionally forget to print these documents, so I decided to see if it was possible to print directly from my iPhone. As it turns out, there are a lot of options for people who wish to print from their smartphones, tablets, and other e-mail enabled devices, but some of these applications come from unexpected sources. Read more »