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Cambridge companies combine for inkjet breakthrough

Written by Sam Fountain

Thursday, 07 February 2008

Two of the region's inkjet technology innovators have joined forces to provide a solution which could dramatically cut time to market for new print systems manufacturers.

Cambridge-based independent technology and product development company, TTP has married-up its Meteor print controller with the print engine software of ixPressia, also based near Cambridge, to create a combination capable of accelerating product development for industrial printer manufacturers.

"“The key advantage of using our print engine software with Meteor is to provide a no-risk route with reduced time-to-market," said Jim Taylor, MD of ixPressia, the specialist inkjet division of local software consultancy, Cametrics.

"Customers can now use TTP Meteor and ixPressia’s Print Engine to drive new industrial printers and print systems with confidence. This is an important step for us.”

The ixPressia print engine provides control of all printer functions, image manipulation and job set-up, while the Meteor print controller contains a modular data path to drive most industrial inkjet printhead types in any size of array or printer configuration.

This complete production-ready hardware and software solution cuts the time to develop new printer systems dramatically, as the time traditionally taken to integrate these two aspects of the system has been eliminated, said Toft-based ixPressia.

The first macine using a combination of the two technologies was recently shipped, employing both the hardware and software in one unit to create a fast colour printer for innovative packaging applications.

"Production-ready hardware and software like this makes a massive difference to how quickly new systems can be created and their success in the market," said the Meteor business manager at TTP, Clive Ayling.

"We view this as a significant milestone in enabling industrial printer manufacturers to accelerate their product development."