Print power players back ColorLok paper

Key names from the print and paper manufacturing world, including HP, Epson and Kodak, have rallied to support the new ColorLok paper standard, which promotes improved paper quality for better printing.

HP said ColorLok technology, which it developed alongside International Paper (IP), would dry up to three times faster than ordinary papers.

Nine companies, including HP and IP along with April, Domtar, Mondi, M-real and Suzano, announced their backing at the Paperworld exhibition in Frankfurt.

The ColorLok Paper Standard is a performance-based standard that paper companies can elect to develop their own approach to meeting.

Alternatively, companies can license the HP-owned paper technology to help meet the ColorLok specifications.

Criteria for meeting the ColorLok standard include image quality, dry time and printer performance.

HP, which plans to recommend ColorLok paper for certain printer models, said it expected that a "significant portion" of the world's uncoated office papers would meet the standard by 2009.

Branded papers that have already passed the ColorLok performance specifications and employ the ColorLok logo include HP Everyday Papers, as well as IP's Hammermill Papers and Duo ranges.