The machine is on display at the Canon stand at Drupa, where customers can see it blaze through large-format work such as maps and posters at a lightning-fast speed of 500 A0-format sheets per hour.

This speed is the result of Memjet’s printheads, and means the Velocity is more than four times as fast as Océ’s next quickest wide-format printer, the ColorWave 650, which is being launched at drupa 2012.

The ColorWave 650 and 650 Poster Printer models, which use Océ’s Crystal Point toner pearl technology, are already around 30% more productive than earlier models.

This is a big leap from the specs of the entry-level Canon ImagePrograf devices, which can reach speeds of 20-30 A0-format sheets per hour.

The Velocity features five Memjet heads to offer resolutions of 1,600x800dpi by applying more than 3 billion drops of ink per second.

Michael Boyle, an ex-pat Australian who is now director international marketing at Océ, said the extreme speed of the Velocity presented not only an upgrade path for wide-format digital shops but for offset printers seeing increasing demand for short runs and variable data.

He added that the Velocity was also a highly productive machine; its six media rolls are based on technology from the ColorWave 6 series and give it a capacity of 1,200 metres.

It runs a true Adobe PDF workflow, with user interface based on the VarioPrint 6320 and the PowerM controller from the ColorWave family.

The Velocity has been tested on substrates from 65-175gsm, though Boyle stressed the machine at drupa is a technology demonstration and will be further developed before it ships.

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