Karla Winter Marketing Program Manager HP Imaging and Printing Group

Hello again from the HP Tech Forum in sunny Las Vegas.  Today marks that last day of the forum and I was very pleased to see lots of people in attendance at the closing general session this morning.  It really says that people are willing to put in the time investment to stay engaged. 

The closing session featured presentations from AMD, Brocade and Intel, continuing the discussion on data center transformations and showing the power that these vendors, along with HP, can bring to the data center of the future. 

The highlight of the closing session was a visit from comedian Howie Mandel.  Very funny – in fact, I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.  What a great way to perk up a crowd of people who had the look of “too much Las Vegas” on their faces!  Tonight the HP 2008 Tech Forum wraps up with a concert featuring Matchbox 20. 

As I’m working the last few hours in the expo area, I continue to be impressed with the number of vendors that are here to help round out the story and showcase the capabilities they bring to the table along with HP. 

The Universal Print Driver continues to be the hot topic in the booth.  This is the strategy moving forward for HP – one print driver instead of individual drivers – so get on board with the transformation!  The HP Universal Print Driver for Windows ® is a single, intelligent print driver that gives users instant access to a wide range of HP print devices, replacing individual product drivers.  The HP Universal Print Driver makes it easy to connect to HP printing devices without having to download separate, product-specific drivers.  And a more streamlined imaging and printing environment means less strain on the network and easier installation of new printers and queues.  And the Universal Print Driver will help you optimize and better manage your printing infrastructure.  And it’s free!  Check it out at www.hp.com/go/upd. 

Another major highlight of the printing and imaging section of the HP booth was the HP Retail Photo Kiosk – a walk-up device being deployed in major retailers, where customer can walk up and print their photos.  Attendees have been walking away with pictures stating how “cool” it is. 

Attendees were also looking at many of our consumer printers for home use to print pictures and to use in their home offices.  Featured models were:

• HP Office Jet Pro L7590 all-in-one
• HP Office Jet Pro K8600
• HP Photosmart Pro B8850
• HP Photosmart C8180 all-in-one
• HP Photosmart D7460

All-in-all, it was a great week, with great customers and vendor partners. Remember to Get Connected – People, Technology and Solutions from HP. 

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