The Olympics may seem like a distant memory for some, but for me they were brought back to life as I recently had the pleasure of meeting Olympic gold medallist, and now Strictly Come Dancing glitterball hopeful, Victoria Pendleton.

The venue for her appearance was the recent launch of the Memjet-powered Own-x Widestar 2000 into the UK market (see p6). At first, the association seemed a tenuous one, but with ‘speed wins’ the motto of the day, it became clearer. Pendleton is famed for her ability to push both body and mind to the limit, pursuing ultimate speed and those elusive hundredths of a second to beat opponents to the line.

Using waterfall printhead technology, what Memjet and Own-x have produced seems to reflect this pursuit, as at a print width of 1067mm, it tops out at 300mm per second (1080m/hr) at a resolution of 1600dpi.

The potential of this technology is that its ability to print to a range of media, means it caters for a good proportion of indoor day-to-day sign and display work. Its speed means that if you own one, you can literally leave competitors, for everything from point-of-sale posters to window graphics, in the dust in regards to turnaround times.

So, what is the catch I hear you say? Well, you need to be able to fill it with work, as its speed is only really a major advantage if you can use it continuously.

Another very tantalising possibility, hinted at by Memjet president Bill McGlynn, is research into the potential of nano-print technology. And, considering that McGlynn is friends with a certain Benny Landa, of HP Indigo and Nanography fame, there could be some very interesting developments waiting in the wings.