Weekend MFP Industry Notes Newsletter
7-19-09
Color LED Printer and MFP maker, Okidata’s history:
- 1874 - Mr. Kibataro Oki enters Telegraph Bureau School of Technology
- 1881 - Mr. Oki establishes Meikosha, Ltd. to create telephones based on Thomas Edison patent.
- 1882 – creates portable printers for army
- 1889 – changes name of company to Oki Electric Works
- 1906 – Mr. Oki dies
- 1916 – wins bid to provide Russia with telephones
- 1944 – Japanese government converts Oki plants into munitions manufacturing for WWII
- 1945 – some buildings destroyed in air raids during WWII
- 1953 – markets page teletypewriter
- 1954 – signs agreement to codevelop radar technology with Raytheon
- 1958 – develops belt line printer
- 1961 – completes construction of semiconductor plant
- 1964 – creates OKISAVER, terminal for online deposits
- 1971 – creates online cash dispensers
- 1972 – creates thermal printer
- 1973 – receives order from Iraq for microwave network
- 1973 – delivers its first thermal fax machine
- 1975 – develops dot matrix printer
- 1983 – wins bid to supply car phones in U.S.
- 1984 – builds cell phone plant in Atlanta
- 1987 – markets its first LED printer
- 1989 – introduces 1 megabyte RAM
- 1994 – opens printer plant in Thailand
- 1994 – changes name to Okidata
Okidata gave out more details on its managed print services offerings:
- “PageStart” is for small resellers looking to get started with MPS
- a bundled solution that includes hardware, service & supplies, which reseller marks up
- “FleetAssist” is for resellers looking to use Okidata’s infrastructure to monitor fleet
- Opportunities have to be prequalified for potential revenue
- Priced on cost per page of fixed monthly fee basis
- Three to five year financing
- National on-site and advanced exchange service
- Fleet blueprinting
- Life cycle asset management
- Remote monitoring of service and consumables
- “FeeAccess” provides complete access to all Okidata support
- Requires a contract that allows Okidata to place its hardware where it deems necessary
Konica Minolta’s Graphic Imaging Division announced it will market PuzzleFlow solutions for the newspaper industry. PuzzleFlow software products manage newspaper prepress workflows.
PostNet, which has 400 franchise mailing locations in the U.S., and 450 more worldwide, announced it will launch a new digital printing services program to its members. The new service will allow stores to receive print jobs electronically over the Internet.
IKON’s warehouse in Orange County, Florida, had its roof ripped off and trailers upended during a severe storm last week. 16,792 copiers were exposed to rain.
IKON, a division of Ricoh, announced that it will now resell Fasoo Solutions.
- IKON VP of Solutions, Dan Nero, made the announcement
- Fasoo based in South Korea
- Provides digital rights management (DRM)
- Uses encryption technology to secure customer’s information
Ricoh launched a new program called “The Total Green Office Solution” claiming it will reduce efficiencies for customers. Details:
- replace current equipment with “Green” equipment from Ricoh that have low emissions
- improve energy efficiency, as new Ricoh MFPs use less energy that old models
- fleet consolidation
- Ricoh’s polymerized toner (called PxP) uses less heat to fuse
- Toner collection and recycling program
Ricoh announced new details of its Technoforce network services program:
- Block of Time ($105 per hour)
- Annual Bronze 40 contract with 10 hours per quarter of on-demand remote helpdesk
or field technician for $3800
- Annual Silver 80 contract with 20 hours per quarter remote or field technician for $7200
- Annual Gold 160 contract with 40 hours per quarter remote or field technician for $13,600
Ricoh announced it has made another dealer acquisition. Details:
- Purchased Automated Business Products, a Savin dealer
- Based in Salt Lake City, UT
- Owners were Lee Christensen and Mike Archer, who will stay in charge of the new wholly owned subsidiary and will take over the current Ricoh branch in SLC.
- This current ABP was founded in 1999 and has 63 employees
- The original ABP was founded by the Archer family and had locations in Utah, Colorado and others, before selling out to IKON.
Gartner released prediction of print technologies:
- by 2012, over 75% of all printed bills and statements in the U.S. will have advertisements for products and services, generating more than $2.8 billion in ad revenue for billers
- by 2012, over 30% of enterprise customers with document intensive business processes will use applications or custom workflows deployed on MFPs to lower paper process costs
and improve worker productivity
- by 2012, over 70% of businesses with more than 250 employees will adopt a
managed print services program
- by 2012, over 80% of enterprise businesses will be using fax servers
Hewlett Packard relaunched its managed print services program. Details:
- Run by Bruce Dalhgren (former executive of Lexmark)
- Includes savings guarantee called “Printing Payback Guarantee”
- After HP conducts its on-site assessment, and delivers proposal, it guarantees the savings it predicts.
- If the end user fails to realize the savings that HP promises after 12 months, HP provides the difference as a credit for the second year of the contract
- Guarantee is only offered if customer agrees to PAY for an official assessment upfront
- Customer must sign up for a minimum 3 year contract for guarantee to be valid
- Trade-in credit up to $1000 when upgrading to new HP LaserJet
- maximum of 400 units can be traded in
- HP hired celebrity Ben Stein to launch the program during a live webcast.
- HP claims it can save companies anywhere from 20%-30%
- HP states that one of its largest MPS customers is Intel Corp.
- covers 1800 printers
- 11% of printing is in color, and accounts for 50% of costs
- Another large MPS referral HP is claiming is STMicroelectronics
- Hewlett Packard announced it has hired Larry Irving as VP of Global Government Affairs.
- Previously, he was a White House technology advisor. He will work in D.C. and lobby the
federal government on HP’s behalf for its share of stimulus money projects
Toshiba announced a partnership with Close the Loop, Inc. This company is a global recycler of toner cartridges and was founded in 2000 in Australia by Steve Morriss. The company turns the recycled toner into a composite which is used to make fences, garden edging, outdoor furniture and other applications. The company’s plant in the U.S. is located in Hebron, Kentucky.
Nuance Communications Inc. is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over its $96 million buyout of a speech recognition division of Royal Philips Electronics in 2008.
Recent Xerox street pricing seen in the print for pay marketplace:
- Xerox 700 Digital Color Press w/Creo/LCT/Finisher for $59,200 with color clicks @ $0.049 & b/w clicks @ $0.0129. 11”x17” billed as one click.
- Xerox 4112 production b/w system w/Fiery/booklet-maker/LCT for $40,200 with b/w clicks @ $0.005 for first 200,000 and overages at $0.0039. 11”x17” billed as one click.
Xerox announced that one of its scientists received his 100th patent. Marcel Breton received the patent for development of a new type of ink that could be used in future color inkjet printers
Xerox launched two new A3 b/w laser MFPs, the WorkCentre 5225 & 5230 series featuring:
- 25ppm and 30ppm top speeds respectively
- Base MSRPs start at $7999.00
- Made by Fuji Film of Japan
- 256MB RAM standard (can upgrade to 768MB)
- 75,000 per month maximum duty cycle
- Auto duplex standard
- 75 sheet document feeder standard can scan up to 55opm
- Two 500 sheet paper drawers standard
- 100 sheet stack bypass standard
- Options can add 4,000 sheets to paper supply
- Optional envelope tray holds up to 65 number 10 envelopes
- 4.3 second first copy out time
- Optional finishers offer hole-punch, staple and booklet making
- 1200x1200dpi
- Optional fax board
- Optional print controller offers:
- actual maker unknown
- Scan to email, mailbox, SMB
- Optional scan to searchable PDF
- Color scanning
- 10/100BaseT & USB ports (does not offer 1000BaseT)
- 333MHz processor
- PCL print driver standard
- Optional PostScript print driver
- Extensible Interface Platform (EIB) provides ability for embedded software
- 40GB hard drive
The Department of Applied Chemistry of Keio University in Japan, and the McMaster University of California have developed an inkjet printer that prints out a sheet of paper that can be used to test for toxins by dipping paper in the suspect liquid, and watching for color change.
Kodak announced it sold its first Prosper high speed color inkjet system to Data Forms, a print for pay in Hong Kong.
Lyra Research announced results of poll taken with business owners answering the question; “Have Environmental Considerations and Policies Had An Effect on U.S. Print Volumes?”:
- just under 40% said that it DID have an effect
- Over 40% said it did NOT have an effect
- Around 10% were not sure
Rochester Software Associates announced a new feature for its popular WebCRD product. This software provides an on-line kiosk for print job submission and management. The new feature is “Document Preview”, which not only shows a view of the pages, but now shows usage of tabs, colored paper, and finishing. Customers can turn pages with an animated flip just like a real book.
IBM won a contract from the Mobile (Alabama) County Public School System to provide technology to measure student performance, and adjust academic programs in real time to prepare students for 21st century skills. The contract payment will come out of a $26 million fund which was part of the recent federal stimulus package.
In a test to promote its new high speed color inkjet press, the JetStream 2200, Oce’ printed thousands of personalized versions of the The Washington Times newspaper. The newspapers featured content, ads and articles tailored to the interests of its targeted subscribers.
Canon is preparing to launch a new line of color laser MFPs, called the imageRUNNER ADVANCE series. Tentative details:
- All models still use the off-white plastic design
- None apparently offer true 8 bits per pixel imaging
- The C9065 PRO and C9075 PRO are both advertised as light production color systems
- Designed to compete against the Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C5501 & C6501
- Small engine footprint (appears to be designed on a workgroup engine format)
- Tandem 4 drum OPC design
- uses pulverized toner infused with wax
- Console design with two large letter size drawers and two 11”x17” drawers
- Optional side mount paper decks for a total paper capacity of 9,300 sheets
- Uses 200v/15 amp circuit
- 60ppm color and 65ppm b/w for C9065
- 70ppm color and 75ppm b/w for C9075
- Document feeder can scan both sides at same time
- scans b/w originals at 100opm top speed (at 200dpi)
- 10.4” touch screen color LCD panel on an armature
- Comes standard with generic PCL controller with optional PostScript
- Optional embedded or external Fiery controllers
- Optional Creo controller
- actual copy resolution of 600x600dpi and 1200x1200dpi print resolution
- advertised as offering up to 9600dpi with interpolation
- maximum paper weight handling of 300gsm
- The C7065 & C7055 use same engine as the C9065 PRO/C9075 PRO except that they do not have the same finishing options, and do not have the large color LCD touch panel on armature
- designed to compete against the Konica Minolta bizhub C552 & C652 models
- C7065 offers 60ppm color and 65ppm b/w
- C7055 offers 50ppm color and 55ppm b/w
- Instead have smaller LCD panel that does not tilt/swivel
- optional embedded or external Fiery controllers
- optional fax
- optional scan to MS Office
- The C5030, 5035, 5045 & 5051 offer 30ppm, 35ppm, 45 & 51ppm respectively b/w or color
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- Optional fax
- Modular, not console, design
- Comes standard with two 11”x17” paper drawers and stack bypass
- Optional side mount paper deck
- Finishing options include stapling,hole-punch & booklet-making
- Touch screen color LCD display (does not swivel)
- Optional scan to MS Office
- Optional fax board
- Optional generic or EFI Fiery print controllers
Canon announced it has replaced Nick Peterson as head of its Australian division with Richard Hamlin.
Canon announced that its factory direct branch in Longview, Texas won a $720,000 copier bid from Hallsville Independent School District.
Nikkei English News reported that Canon had an operating profit of $318 million for the second quarter of 2009, which is a decrease of 81% compared to last year.
Canon announced it has signed a lease for a 8,235 square foot office in San Diego for its new factory direct branch. The lease is a five year deal for $1 million.
IRIS of Belgium, maker of an optical character recognition (OCR) engine, sold a major stake in the company to Canon for 22 million euros. Company started in 1987 by Pierre De Muelenaere and Jean Dider Legat.
The Monterey County police are reporting an upsurge in the usage of counterfeit currency apparently made on a color copier. Unknown who is making this fake money.
Graham, Texas police arrested Randall Hammond, 29 and Jamiece Smith, 36, after they were caught making fake currency using a color copier.
Riso announced it opened a new factory direct branch in Boston to increase its marketshare.
Brother, maker of low end color inkjet and laser printers and MFPs, was originally founded as Yasui Sewing Machine Co. by Kaneschi Yasui.
Epson, maker of color inkjet printers and MFPs, was originally founded in 1941 as Daiwa Kogyo Ltd.
Hitachi was originally named Namihei Odaira, and started in 1910.
Kodak settles a race bias class action lawsuit for $21.4 million that was filed by former employees.
DSS Co. Ltd. of Japan introduced new technology to increase productivity of workers. The company charges $10,000 for a two day study that includes the installation of tiny digital cameras on workers clothing and bracelets on their ankles. This tracks and measures their movements to find unproductive behavior. During testing, it found the most popular places of gathering were the coffee machine and copier.
Tomomi Sayuda announced the invention of the iBum, which is a photocopier built into the seat of a chair.
IDC announced latest data on computer sales during the last quarter:
- Dell Computer = 4,174,000, down 18.9%
- Hewlett Packard = 4,134,000 up 2.3%
- Acer = 2,009,000 up 51%
- Toshiba = 1,225,000 up 33.9%
- Apple = 1,213,000 down 12.4%
ABBYY Corp., maker of the FineReader optical character recognition engine, announced it is now offering a version that can be embedded into an MFP, according to Andrey Isaev of Russia, director of technology.
Lexmark launched a new series of color inkjet all-in-ones that can access the Internet from its touch screen color LCD control panel. Pricing starts at $199.00.
EFI, maker of Fiery controllers, announced it won a lawsuit against Leggett & Platt, which had sued EFI over alleged infringement on one of its patents in EFI’s VUTek wide format color inkjet printer.
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