Hewlett-Packard extends its high-end HP 5000 PCL printer family with four additional models
As well as its new LaserJet network printers and network boards launched at the beginning of the month, Hewlett-Packard Co added four new high-end production-capacity printers, the HP 5000 series. They print at up to 210 pages per minute, and are supported on HP 3000 Series 900 and HP 9000 Series 800 business systems and servers. The printers are compatible with HP LaserJet printers, using the same HP Printer Command Language. At the same time, I-Data International A/S of Bagsvaerd, Denmark, announced a software product that enables mainframe customers to print IBM Corp’s Advanced Function Printing-formatted applications on any HP 5000 printer. The ida820 PSS package runs on an IBM host, offering a user interface very much like IBM’s Print Services Facility-2, and translates AFP output to PCL and routes the output to an HP 3000 server and the print server then can print the converted AFP output on any HP 5000 or HP LaserJet printer.
Similar product
A similar product is under development for HP 9000 Unix systems. At the high end of the new line are the HP 5000 models F135 and F135XP. The Model F135 prints letter-sized forms at 135 pages-per-minute and can handle continuous forms up to 14 wide. The Model F135XP extends the print line to 17, so that customers can print two letter-sized pages side by side, yielding an effective two-up throughput of 210 pages-per-minute. Two-up printing also saves operating costs by squeezing more pages per linear foot of paper running through the printer. The other models are the HP 5000 F100/Turbo and F100XP. The model F100/Turbo includes a faster PCL formatter, designed for all the new higher-speed models, and is for those that have the most demanding PCL formatting requirements. The F100XP, like the F135XP, extends the print line to 17 inches wide. Two-up printing on the F100XP can achieve an effective 154 pages-per-minute. The new printers join the HP 5000 model F100, which began shipping in 1992. All the HP 5000 printers incorporate remote diagnostics with a built-in modem interface so that Hewlett-Packard service and support personnel can check on the status of each printer regularly from a Response Centre. Field upgrades from the F100 through the line are also offered. The new printers can be ordered now; the Model F100/Turbo is $200,000; the F100XP is $250,000, the F135, $240,000, the F135XP, $300,000 and the F100, already out there, costs $190,000.
Adobe’s Photoshop bundled with ScanJet IIc
Hewlett-Packard Co has signed with Adobe Systems Inc, Mountain View to bundle the Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition software for the Macintosh with the HP ScanJet IIc grayscale and colour desktop scanner. The combined package with the basic function of Photoshop Version 2.5, enables users to input and edit images with their computer. The combination is $1,600.
New C1716T erasable optical disk drive stores 1.3Gb on a single 5.25 optical platter…
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Hewlett-Packard Co, which originally got into the erasable optical disk drive business with help from Sony Corp, has launched the C1716T 5.25 multifunctional optical-disk drive that stores 1.3Gb of storage capacity on a single platter, double the capacity of the previous generation of 5.25 drives. Sony launched a similar drive at the same time. The drive uses European Computer Manufacturing Association media standards, which increase capacity through zone-bit recording techniques, increased linear recording density and decreased track spacing. Offered on the OEM market, the drive is regarded by Hewlett as suitable for imaging, computer-aided design, so-called near-line storage and the generality of applications that involve large files. The 1.3Gb optical drive is jukebox-ready, and the company plans to integrate it into its line of optical disk libraries by late summer, and to offer it as an upgrade to its existing jukebox customers. The drive can also read and write to the 650Mb platters. The C1716T incorporates a signal processor-based servo and
split optics, for an average seek time of under 25mS. The erasable and write-once formats used in the multifunction drive are based on ANSI/ISO standards for continuous-composite, magneto-optical disk and recording format, and the drive is made at Hewlett-Packard’s Greeley Storage Division, in Greeley, Colorado. The drive costs $3,950 and the 1.3Gb platter is $189 per disk. The company also cut the price of the 650Mb optical drive to $3,150 and platters for it to $159. Evaluation units of the Model C1716T are available now and volume ships are planned for early summer 1993.
…and Hewlett-Packard offers an optical jukebox to extend storage capacity of NetWare servers
Hewlett-Packard Co also announced for the reseller market a new HP Optical Jukebox Storage Solution optical-disk library storage system designed to extend hard disk storage on a persobal computer network server running Novell Inc NetWare by up to 10.4Gb. The idea is that users with high storage demands should achieve continuous free disk space by enabling large files to be stored off-line while keeping them easily accessible. The jukebox connects to the magnetic disk drive of a NetWare 3.11 file server, and when the server disk reaches a set capacity, files are automatically migrated from the server to the jukebox. If the user needs a file on the jukebox, it is automatically brought back to the server disk for faster access. The product consists of the HP Model 10LC optical jukebox, and an interface kit. The Model 10LC contains a 5.25 650Mb optical drive that supports both rewritable and write-once operations, and can take up to 16 of the exchangeable platters. The interface kit facilitates connection of the Model 10LC to a NetWare 3.11 server, containing the SCSI host adaptor, the jukebox-management software and diagnostics. Kits are customised with either an EISA board, an AT board or software only. The 10LC comes with one platter, and 16 platters are offered in a specially-priced pack for those that buy the Optical Jukebox Storage Solution. The jukebox sells for $9,500, the pack of 16 disks costs $2,320, the kit is $1,100 for the EISA bus, $750 for AT, and the software-only kit costs $300.
