Inkjet's speed and versatility have caused it to be widely endorsed as the dominant print technology of the future. Esteemed print-brain professor Frank Romano predicts rapid inkjet growth between now and 2050, by which time it will have overtaken offset.

More immediately, 2009 is particularly significant because some of the new high-speed inkjet systems that hold so much promise - and that have generated a lot of those column inches - are going into operation in the field.

Soon we will be able to get a picture of what's actually going to fly in the real world, bearing in mind the old truism that the best technology on paper isn't always the one that takes off in the market.

The debate among the pointy-headed community over continuous versus piezo versus thermal versus drop-on-demand will be rendered irrelevant by how the total system performs, and how the cost of ownership stacks up.

First, we have Kodak's much-vaunted "offset class" Stream technology. To say that Kodak is pinning a lot on Stream is an understatement. The technology has been a long time in the making, having first been previewed back at Drupa 2004.

In the face of new systems from a slew of competitors, Kodak has had to get something of a wiggle on in bringing the initial Stream shipment dates forward. The first Stream printheads will be installed at Cyril-Scott Company, part of US print group Consolidated Graphics.

Stream on-stream
Note that this involves Stream overprinting heads being installed on a litho web press for direct mail-type applications,
as opposed to the complete standalone Stream press that was shown at Drupa last year.

At the time of writing, the installation was described as taking place "in the coming weeks", although at a recent investor meeting, Kodak's executives said the first printhead at the Stream alpha site would be installed in the third quarter of 2009. It's no coincidence that Cyril-Scott is based in Ohio, not far from the Kodak's inkjet HQ in Dayton, so they are handily located to keep a close eye on. There's no word of any European Stream installations just yet.

Another snippet that emerged from the investor call is that Kodak is also putting Stream technology into a new Integrated Book Printing System, and sample books were shown to the financial analysts.

This new system was described as being "very far along from a prototype standpoint", with availability slated for early 2010. Perhaps Kodak's desire to hurry a book printing version to market too can be explained by another notable inkjet development - the HP Inkjet Web Press.

This is a beast of a machine. Like Stream, it prints at 122 metres per minute, and one is coming to this fair island soon - the installation at CPI subsidiary Antony Rowe is set to take place around September.  This is a hugely significant installation in a number of ways, not least because CPI UK chief executive Mike Taylor, a person known for his forthright opinions, is not a fan of ‘bleeding-edge' technology and has gone on record as saying that it's the second stage adopters who make the money.

So for Taylor's business to sign up as a beta site for the HP machine appears to demonstrate a high level of confidence that it will do exactly what it says on the tin.