Commercial printing, where traditional offset still reigns, could be transformed with the introduction of a bevy of versatile, high-speed digital presses.

One of the most talked-about models being unveiled Thursday at Drupa 2008 — a showcase for the graphic communications industry held every four years in Dusseldorf, Germany — is Stream, a continuous-feed inkjet color press from Eastman Kodak Co.

It can print more than 2,500 pages — or 500 feet — of customized catalogs, brochures, books, magazines, credit-card bills or direct mail each minute. And it may be able to narrow cost, quality and speed gaps that have kept digital printers from capturing more than 10 percent of the world’s high-end commercial market.

Current full-color digital presses — Xerox Corp.’s iGen, Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Indigo and Kodak’s NexPress — top out around 120 pages a minute at a cost of 5 cents to 6 cents per page, analysts say. Output from the Stream is closer to analog-world prices

of a penny or less per page, a dramatic improvement that makes the newer technology much more competitive.

“It’s a step-function improvement in speed and cost,” said Citigroup analyst Matthew Troy. “And it gives the printer the ability to do variable info printing at a quality level that is close to traditional offset. And that is massive.”

Photography icon Kodak expects to bring Stream to market in early 2009.

Seeing its film and photofinishing businesses nose-dive, Kodak has tapped its inkjet expertise and splurged $2.6 billion on a string of acquisitions since 2004 in hopes of grabbing a stake in a fertile market where Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh, Xerox, and Fuji plus are doing fierce battle.

by the next two weeks at Drupa 2008 — which could draw more than 400,000 society — the industry’s major players will put their latest commercial printing wares on display and introduce “the first generation…

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