The first product to be launched is a label press that is being shown at Drupa as a prototype and will be available in 2009.

The company claims the press will remove the current barriers to the uptake of digital label printing of cost and complexity. It also revealed it is working on print engines and inks for the commercial print market.

"One of our goals is to develop technology for short-run, high-quality work that is scalable for format and speed," Epson Europe senior business manager Marc Tinkler said.

"We are also developing a new ink that works with any paper or board stock with no pre-treatment."

A new printhead optimised for commercial print applications, including the need to handle more viscous inks, which are more like offset and flexo inks, has also been developed.

The company is showing a demonstration of this type-D head configured in an 8inch-wide, eight unit single-pass array on its stand (05/A01).

Tinkler also said that as the firm increased its focus on commercial print, it would move from being a background supplier of core technology to supplying complete products or working in partnership with other manufacturers.