While many of us are still recovering from visiting Ipex and busy digesting all the related news, the worlds largest digital printing conference and exhibition just took place on the other side of the Atlantic. The aptly named On Demand Conference & Expo is the biggest show for on demand digital printing devices, associated equipment and services. It takes place every year and 2006 was a vibrant event, particularly in the area of production colour printing. The organisers reported that more than 20,000 visitors from 62 countries attended the show and conference, which took place from 1518 May at the Pennsylvania Convention Centre in Philadelphia. More than 450 companies exhibited, easily topping the number of digital print equipment and services exhibitors at Ipex. And all of this, despite a strike of Philadelphias taxi drivers on the first day of the show.

In parallel to the expo, a lively conference programme took place with four tracks covering all aspects of the digital printing business. Conference sessions included case studies, benchmark/industry studies and panel discussions, giving a good insight into the status and trends of the digital printing industry. The conference programme itself had more than 500 attendees.

New product announcements
Despite the fact that Ipex 2006 was held a few weeks before, a couple of new product announcements were made. Perhaps the most significant was the launch of the Xerox DocuColor 5000, a 50ppm production printer. The DocuColor 5000 is going to replace the 5252 and the 6060 models in Europe and will be the new colour mid-production solution from Xerox for users getting into digital colour printing. The 5000 combines the image resolution, broad substrate support and robustness of the higher-end DocuColor products, at a price point that will make it attractive to a wide range of companies. There was more news on data infrastructure for digital colour print and IBM announced it was moving towards opening up Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) as a standard. AFP is used for the high-speed printing of bills, statements and other data centric documents. Currently the AFP Colour Consortium, a 28-company group, including many major industry suppliers, is developing extensions to the AFP architecture to facilitate high-quality colour printing within it. The potential is tremendous, so the move toward full standardization is good news for the industry.

Effective and user-friendly
Interestingly, On Demand is co-located with AIIM Conference & Expo, which is the largest event for providers and users of enterprise content and information management solutions. It covers technologies that capture, manage, share, and store documents and digital content. It is a good reminder that digital printing should be considered as more than a replacement for traditional print. Instead, it is the natural link between enterprise content solutions and electronic documents. At events like these, digital print has the chance to prove that it is the most effective and user-friendly way of visualising content for a reader.

We frequently hear that trade shows are struggling to attract enough attendees and exhibitors. On Demand clearly bucks that trend. In 2007 AIIM/On Demand takes place at the Boston Convention & Exposition Centre from 16-19 April. The main reason it will move is that the required floor space for exhibitors has outgrown the Philadelphia Convention Centre. The move should give exhibitors enough space to surprise us by introducing new and interesting products galore.

30-second briefing on... on demand conference & expo
- The On Demand Conference & Expo took place from 1518 May at the Pennsylvania Convention Centre in Philadelphia. On Demand is the biggest show in the world for on demand digital printing devices, related equipment and services. Over 20,000 visitors attended the expo and 450 companies exhibited their products
- The expo was complemented by an extensive conference programme covering various aspects of the digital printing business. The conference addresses digital printing and production challenges relating to creating, managing, personalising, and delivering content. It is an excellent opportunity to get better informed about digital printing industry trends
- A couple of new digital printing devices were launched at On Demand, most notably the Xerox DocuColor 5000. It will be the new colour mid-production printer from Xerox for users getting into digital colour printing, who need to combine image resolution, broad substrate support and robustness, with an attractive price point
- On Demand is co-located with AIIM Conference and Expo, the largest event for providers and users of enterprise content and information management solutions. The two exhibitions, together, give a good overview of electronic document and digital printing trends and how both areas can interact and profit from each other
- Next year, On Demand will move to Boston as the demand for floor space has outgrown the Philadelphia Convention Centre. This underlines the importance of, and growing interest in, digital technologies

Ralf Schlzer is associate director at digital print and document technology analyst Infotrends. Contact him at ralf_schlozer@capv.com