The 9850 is a 50 A4ppm colour printer that Danka said is ideal for both quick printers and as an entry-level digital colour machine for commercial printers.

Danka Europe head of marketing Nauzar Manekshaw said it helped the firm to "complete and expand our colour portfolio".

The company already has deals to sell Canon and Ricoh colour machines as well as NexPress high-volume black-and-white machines.

Manekshaw said the deal with HP was part of a broader move to colour that would not affect its position with other suppliers. In fact, it underlined Danka's "vendor independent-dealer" status, he said, adding the firm had "opportunities with other vendors to go to 70 or 100ppm".

The firm has also added "colour gurus" to its sales teams to cover commercial print, high-volume and strategic accounts.

The two firms kicked off their arrangement in the UK at Digital Print World this week. HP launched the machine at the beginning of the year, but at the time had no distribution for the product, which sits below the HP Indigo range in its portfolio (PrintWeek, 12 February).

Story by Barney Cox